Too many cartoons and video games at school, parents denounce

Schools are relying too much on cartoons, films and video games to occupy or reward students – who are already excessively exposed to screens – several parent committees are concerned.

“As parents, we do not expect our children to be looked after by an electronic tablet,” argues the president of the Federation of Parents’ Committees of Quebec, Mélanie Laviolette. It must remain exceptional, but my own children told me that they had seen the same film six times in a year! »

Schoolchildren are found posted on all sorts of occasions in front of films or gaming platforms. In class. As a snack or dinner. At recess when it rains. Then to the daycare.

“Would it take a big movement from the various parent committees? », asks M^me Laviolette, who would like to survey his regional delegates this fall.

For now, she suggests, concerned parents can “send a quick email to open a dialogue with their child’s teacher. It can have a big effect.”

Asked to intervene by its own group of parent committees, which adopted a resolution last year, the School Service Center (CSS) of Bois-Francs turned to the CIUSSS of Mauricie-et-du- Centre-du-Québec, so that he could help design a guide entitled Is using digital technology for leisure or reward a good choice?.

Posted online on October 24, this research-based document reminds school staff how and why overexposure to digital technology is harmful and suggests that they encourage drawing, crafts, board games, reading, sports, etc.

The deputy general director of the CSS des Bois-Francs, Marylène Plante, confirms that a change of direction was necessary. “We really wanted a reduction in the use of screens for entertainment or reward. […] [Le personnel] must coordinate to ensure that the student is not exposed intensely for two days. »

“Before, in the daycare service, there was perhaps a slight tendency to automatically bring students to computers on rainy days, including midday. There, it’s limited. And when a person has to substitute at the last minute, without a plan, school administrators can provide them with tools to avoid going to the screen. The students have already seen all the films, so they find it boring! They prefer interactive activities with the teacher. »

Three films on a Friday

Other school service centers have asked to obtain the Bois-Francs guide, indicates M^me Plant.

Étienne Bergeron, who teaches the social universe, is delighted, because parents have been writing to him from everywhere since he publicly fought overexposure to screens.

Discovering that students have access to rudimentary English-language gaming platforms – such as www.friv.com and y8.com – troubles the Warwick teacher even more. “I see zero educational value in it, and yet it is common, because young people placed in front of a screen do not jostle and do not disturb. »

However, after 15 to 20 minutes of playful interaction with a screen, “a withdrawal peak” of dopamine can occur when stopping, warns the Bois-Francs guide. The student then becomes more irritable and impulsive, while being less attentive, and he consequently drops out of his learning or the connection with the adult.

The accumulation of similar interludes is even more harmful, adds Sandrine Fortin, research agent at the CIUSSS.

After consulting dozens of experts, the Department of Health and Human Services concluded that educational settings should “avoid using screens as rewards or during an activity such as snack time.” He specifies this in the “Quebec Strategy on the Use of Screens and Youth Health 2022-2025”, where he announces the publication of a reference framework which will mark this use according to age, in order to “reduce the risks “.

“It is too early to advance further on the content” of this framework, a spokesperson for the Ministry wrote to us. Rather, he refers to other guides, which indicate that using screens to calm children or reward them “can compromise the development of their emotion regulation.” And that the distraction they cause at the table “can infringe on the ability to listen to one’s hunger and satiety signals.”

The Ministry of Education did not respond to our questions.

“We must trust our teachers”

The two large union federations which represent teachers in the public sector do not contest the adoption of guides on screens, provided that they do not interfere with professional autonomy.

“There can be 100 good educational reasons for showing a film, so we can’t make a judgment without knowing the context,” says Annie Primeau, vice-president of professional life at the Autonomous Education Federation.

“A lot of important social learning takes place around play activities. Showing a film on a Friday and talking about it again on Monday works on language and memory. And when everyone is not sitting at their little desk, in their little “territory”, the child learns not to disturb or hide their friends. »

Same story at the Federation of Education Unions. “We must trust our teachers,” declares its president, Josée Scalabrini. Even a video game as a reward can be useful educationally speaking, if it motivates the young person to work well. »