Our parents smoked, but they knew it was bad for your health. This was their pretext for forbidding us. So we smoked in secret.
We now know that social media is similar. Except that as parents, as a society, we are helpless.
Our inner voice tells us that it is too much. But at the same time, we are bombarded by the new digital reality.
Florida, Europe, France, even Ontario school boards are cracking down.
And yet, here, almost radio silence from the political class.
The sad reality is that this passivity is slowly killing our children.
The parents…
It’s up to parents to set limits!
This lecture certainly does not come from those who have young teenagers and pre-teens!
JE’s hard-hitting report showed that it’s not as simple as that.
When 86% of young people aged 9 to 11 have accounts on social media reserved for those over 13, it’s a failure.
Even when parents are vigilant, everything changes in high school.
- Listen to the Latraverse-Dubé meeting with Emmanuelle Latraverse via QUB :
The YouTube account opened to make videos of the dog purchased during the pandemic is transformed into a vast public newspaper.
Instagram for chatting with your camp friend opens the door to strangers asking for revealing photos.
Suddenly, the rules that were respected take the edge. In high school, you have to belong to the group.
Enter Snapchat, its secret messages and everything changes.
Intimidation, violence, sextortion, the devastation has been making headlines for years.
The potential impact of screens on the risk of dropping out, social relationships and then romantic relationships is now known.
That’s without counting the one on adolescent brain development! And the epidemic of unhappiness that affects nearly half of today’s teenagers.
How can the “I don’t know what to do anymore” heard too often from parents’ mouths hit the wall of “be responsible”?
At least our parents knew that cigarettes were bad. How many parents know the extent of the risk that comes with the new digital reality?
Getty Images via AFP
Not all teens will fall into this vicious and destructive cycle. It’s “only” one in 5 who will switch.
It’s way too much!
Radio silence
The worst part is that it’s been a while since we learned that digital platforms are well aware of the risks.
They have studied, quantified and evaluated the harmful impact of their algorithms on our children. Like tobacco companies, they know that their products are addictive.
However, our governments seem helpless in the face of the complexity of the problem.
Paul St-Pierre Plamondon is calling for a strategy from the next school year. As if it was credible to get there in such a short period of time.
Certainly, in Ottawa, the Trudeau government has just tabled a bill to hold large platforms accountable. But it is mired in a debate over freedom of expression.
It took 70 years to bring the cigarette companies to heel. Please, let’s not wait this long to take action against social media.
The mental health and neurocognitive development of too many young people weigh in the balance.