Najat Vallaud-Belkacem suggests “rationing the internet” by limiting the number of “gigas to be used daily”

The former Minister of National Education believes that reducing our exposure to screens would be “beneficial on many levels”, in particular “to fight against discrimination, harassment, global warming”.

“I have a problem, you have a problem, we have a problem”, Najat Vallaud-Belkacem gets carried away. In a column published Monday March 18 in Le Figarothe former Minister of National Education calls for a rethink “our relationships with screens, and, more concretely, with the internet.” She suggests that “we are thinking concretely about ways to ration the internet, for example by granting a limited number of gigabytes to be used daily.”

“This is not for me to launch into yet another complaint with retrograde overtones.”she assures, asking if we have “need that much internet.” Najat Vallaud-Belkacem believes that reducing our exposure to screens would be “beneficial on many levels”in terms “for cognitive development, for health, but also to fight against discrimination, harassment, global warming”. According to her, limiting our use of digital technology would make it possible to “dealing with one of the major sources of pollution”.

“If we know that we only have three gigabytes to use in a week, we are probably not going to spend them posting hateful comments or making fakes.”

Najat Vallaud-Belkacem

in “Le Figaro”

“Rationing the internet will not make all the problems disappear,” concedes the ex-minister, “but rarity requires a certain wisdom”. “Perhaps we will stop considering it ‘normal’ to spend several hours on pornographic sites watching ultra HD videos.” she says.

The Secretary of State for Digital, Marina Ferrari, criticized the proposal, seeing “probably the worst way to approach the debate on our relationship with screens”. “Dealing with risks deserves so much better than a Manichean and above-ground approach to the digital space whose uses are as numerous as the users”she wrote on.