“In Search of Lost Time”. What a remarkable name to designate the report made by the screens commission on April 30 to the President of the Republic. These conclusions warn against “the hyperconnection suffered by children”, highlighting its harmful effects on their health, their development and their future, as well as that of our society and our civilization. Like a spotlight on what we are, and what we do, this event will perhaps trigger the resurgence of a happy childhood memory, without us trying to remember it, and will surely lead to a certain nostalgia for these lost moments and for what we were.
Or not.
Indeed, we will not prevent screens from existing, nor the addictions that result from them. So you might as well make sure that the content is as high-quality as possible. It would be hypocritical to completely turn our backs on screens. Like television screens in the 60s, smartphone screens are here to stay, and for a long time. The problem is therefore not so much their existence, but rather what we do with them. In this, the creators of platforms or digital content have a real responsibility. Those who master new technologies hold considerable power: to bring knowledge and knowledge to their users or to participate in their brutalization by smothering them with fake news and content that harms their awareness.
Quality fun and learning
We are convinced that technologies are a real lever for promoting the education of young people. On the one hand, the digitalization of tools guarantees their accessibility to as many people as possible. Recent technological advances – such as generative AI – also make it possible to design solutions adapted to the needs of young people, while offering an entertaining format thanks to gamification. Combining pleasure and quality learning is the ambition we must set for ourselves. You have to sort out good and bad content.
Wanting to do without screens completely is a mistake. They represent an incredible opportunity, especially in terms of education. While there is no evidence that screens enable learning better than textbooks, the opportunities offered by digital technology and artificial intelligence are endless. They come to accompany the work from school to home. In class, a teacher could never, and this is normal, dedicate himself exclusively to a child, and adapt the teaching to his pace, his level, whereas generative AI allows this to be done. It gives confidence to the child, who becomes an actor in his learning and master of his development.
So, wouldn’t it be more judicious to drive screen addiction towards quality content instead of wanting to restrict children as much as possible? If we think of content and screens and the dangers they pose, we naturally think of video games.
The key role of parents
An 8 year old child who plays video games is not a passive child. It’s not the same to watch TV and be passive as it is to play a video game. Here we can question the parental role. The recommendations will only have a real impact if parents re-evaluate their own habits in the face of the omnipresent influence of screens in their daily lives. With an average of seven connected devices per household, including phones, computers, smartwatches and televisions, it becomes essential for parents to ask: why deprive their children of screens if they themselves are constantly immersed in their use? Experts denounce the increasing commodification of our children, attributing this to the technical and digital strategies of economic actors, but it is crucial to recognize that parents play a key role in this process as liaison agents. However, they should be the first to set an example. To do this, we must break the generational belief that all screens are synonymous with risk.
Regulate the use of course. But denouncing them as tentacle monsters is once again a harsh political choice that aims to fuel excessive fear. We must educate, support and inform. It is in this sense that we must collectively work to qualify screens without demonizing them. Platform creators have a responsibility in this debate.
*Emmanuel Freund is co-founder and CEO of PowerZ