Nowadays, most young people can’t imagine living without their smartphone, even for a day. A reality that disrupts their entire daily life. Testimony of Maxence, who has cut himself off from the rest of the world, like many other teenagers.
If you go to the exit of a middle or high school, you will probably be surprised to see that today, young people do not communicate with each other by voice, but by phone. They communicate with each other while having their eyes glued to their screen. Whether in the street, on public transport or at home, the observation is the same: 12-25 year olds spend a lot of time on their cell phones and on social networks, far too much in fact. On average, they spend 8 hours a day reading online, getting information, playing games, listening to music and especially scrolling through content on their favorite apps. The one that makes them the most addicted is Tiktok, with its millions of videos that can be viewed endlessly. A reality that is not without consequences…
Indeed, as we learn from the new Zone Interdite investigation,Screens, sleep, anxiety: our teenagers in danger”, broadcast on M6 This Sunday, September 22 at 9:10 p.m., screens have taken an excessive place in the lives of young people, to the point of upsetting all their bearings. By constantly being on their cell phones, many teenagers cut themselves off from the outside world and fall into extreme digital isolation. However, social interactions are fundamental to adolescence. They contribute to the well-being of the child and their emancipation in a certain way. Without them, their mental health inevitably takes a hit. In France, 1 in 2 young people suffer from anxiety or depressive symptoms. This was the case for Maxence, aged 21. For years, he was addicted to his smartphone and social networks.
“It had become a habit, a routine that I had taken in the evening. Instead of going out, I would take my phone and watch videos. I think I spent at least 12 hours a day on it. I would just take the time to go eat and go to the bathroom, those were the only interruptions I had in my day,” he confides in the documentary Zone Interdite. An addiction that gradually plunged him into a deep malaise. “I really withdrew into myself, I didn’t do anything at all. Psychologically, I wasn’t doing well. My thoughts were very negative, I was empty, I didn’t think about anything,” he explains. A very different time from that of our ancestors. According to the report, twenty years ago, teenagers spent at least 2.5 hours a day with their friends and took advantage of this time to talk, laugh, and have fun. Nowadays, they only spend 40 minutes of their time doing so. Until the day Maxence had a brainwave…
His life changed the day he bought an old second-hand cell phone, a flip model. For a month, he used this phone with difficulty without wifi and without applications and it gradually benefited him. “I became much more focused on myself, and I enjoyed my friends much more,” without thinking about scrolling, he adds. Since then, the young man has had a much healthier relationship with his phone. He even created the “No Scroll Day” movement with a group of friends to encourage the new generation not to scroll for at least one day a month. Overall, this scourge, carried by smartphones and social networks, is increasingly worrying health professionals, but also parents who are often helpless.