INTERVIEW
The French are more and more connected. They spend an average of 4:30 each day in front of a screen, 8 minutes more than last year, according to the latest barometer of the APRIL foundation with the BVA group, which warns about the health risks of hyper-connection, a form of screen addiction. "The activities multiplied, between the work activities, the social networks, the leisures, that it is the videos, the video games, of chance and of money ... One multiplies the activities on the screens", explains with the micro from Nikos Aliagas, on Europe 1, Olivier Phan, addictologist at the foundation of student health in France.
The addiction to screens, especially smartphones, is manifested by the fear of missing something. "We had the same thing at the court of Versailles, where we said: 'To shirk for a moment is to give up forever'," says our specialist. "Every individual has a real life and a virtual life, with the e-reputation, which can have consequences." Some remain too hooked, to the detriment of real life, that's where the troubles begin.
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Teenagers in the front line
Above all, screens have a greater impact on young people, in whom they can promote sleep disorders. "If you spend six hours a day in front of a screen, it will have repercussions on sleep, and we know how important sleep is for the development of adolescents," continues Olivier Phan.
And yet, they have become indispensable tools, even at school. "A number of homework needs to be done on the tablet and on the Internet." The question arises as to how the child, after class, will organize his leisure and family time. risk is to develop certain skills to the detriment of others: reading, sports, high-investment activities such as music, "says the addictologist.
"There is also an increase, and that's peculiar to video games, aggression and intolerance to frustration," he points out.
Set rules at home
For this specialist, it is up to the parents to set a framework, and this from a young age, so that, later, adolescents can themselves do without a screen. "Do not demonize these tools either, but you have to be careful of the most vulnerable, and the parents must make the effort to frame the children," he insists. "The sooner we learn to vary the pleasures, the easier it will be to stop the tablet because we will know what to do."