This Tuesday is Safer Internet Day.
The day before, the Secretary of State for Children met parents in a social center in the 14th arrondissement of Paris.
The opportunity for Unaf to present a site listing information and advice for parents: "jeprotegemonenfant".
But also for parents present to share helplessness, hard knocks and tricks in the face of children and adolescents who are sometimes victims of screen addiction, an illness aggravated by the health crisis.
“I haven't been on Twitch yet, new forest to explore, breathes Audrey, mother of three children aged 11, 15 and 17.
We always seem to be one step behind our children.
On the occasion of Safer Internet Day which takes place this Tuesday, parents, members of the National Union of Family Associations (Unaf) and Adrien Taquet, Secretary of State in charge of children and also a father, were meeting on Monday.
In order to share their concerns, blows and tips on digital parenting.
A meeting, at the Didot social center, 15 rue des Mariniers in the 14th arrondissement of Paris, which reveals the colossal needs of parents who are often lost in the face of the sometimes dramatic consequences of the abuse of screens by their offspring: desocialization, sedentary lifestyle, addiction …
Very serious consequences
The conclusion is clear.
“We know that a child has a first motive around 9 years old on average, that he is exposed to pornography around 9 or 10 years old and that confinement has increased the time spent on screens, introduces Adrien Taquet.
Opposite, the parents tell us that they are helpless in the face of these questions.
»
And the health crisis has not helped.
According to a study by Ipsos for the Observatory of Parenthood and Digital Education and Unaf, 44% of parents and 53% of children have increased their screen consumption since March 2020. “I would like to limit the time screen, but after confinement, it is difficult to go back, ”recognizes Audrey.
Among the risks mentioned on Monday, there is also child crime.
Diane discovered that her 12-year-old daughter had not only stolen her cell phone, created an Instagram profile, but that she was talking to a 50-year-old adult, who had asked her for pictures of her feet… “You put your finger on one of the sources of concern, reacts Adrien Taquet.
Child criminals work a lot on video game forums, for example.
»
The question of parental control
So how do you support this digital parenting?
On the material side, the government hopes to democratize parental control.
Some search engines (Google), platforms (Netflix), consoles offer a parental control solution, alongside paid offers.
But they are not always adopted.
A bill, adopted by the National Assembly on January 18 and examined Wednesday in the Senate, provides for the obligation for manufacturers to install a parental control system on all laptops.
The option of requiring all users to scan their identity card, just to impose a minimum age, seems however complicated to set up.
“Imposing this restriction only in France would not be of much interest since the Internet is in essence cross-border, continues Adrien Taquet.
But we are trying to act at European level, with the Digital Service Act.
»
However, this question of parental control is far from being the answer to all the problems.
“When you have three televisions, two computers, a tablet, it becomes complicated,” admits a father who takes part in this workshop.
He imposed clear rules on his three children aged 7, 9 and 13: no screen during the week.
“One day, I take my eldest's cell phone and there, whammy, I realize he's been on a porn site.
But I have not installed parental control, I prefer to favor trust and exchange.
»
A site to guide parents
To better support parents, the ministry is launching an enhanced version of the "jeprotegemonenfant" site on Monday.
If the site launched a year ago originally focused on the dangers of porn, it now offers a second tab dedicated to all screen uses.
What do we find there?
A quiz, resources and adapted practical advice.
The filters will indeed make it possible to give advice according to the problem sought (health, risks and drift, place of screens) and the user (parent, child or teenager).
The digital parenting campus must also be available with physical workshops.
Which remain in the hands of associations, social centers, family allowance funds (Caf)... "There are already a lot of workshops offered in parents' cafes, support groups, but this offer is too disparate and not very visible, underlines Stéphanie Pouria, project manager for the National Union of Family Associations (Unaf), which is piloting the project.
The goal of this campus is to structure all this with common messages, turnkey workshops, practical tools.
»
Ultimately, Unaf hopes to communicate in town halls, schools, departments on these meetings around digital parenting.
But for now, the project is still in its infancy.
advice between parents
And yet, the demand is there.
The proof: the parents gathered during this workshop in the 14th clearly wanted to share their troubles, but also their solutions.
Nathalie has 16 year old twins.
And makes the audience laugh when she explains that she chose dialogue rather than the ban after a small mishap.
“At 12, my son blocked my cell phone remotely because I had forbidden him Nintendo… We then decided to stop punishing each other!
Against the screens, there is nothing better than the forest, the toboggan, football, board games that create the same reward system as social networks.
»
And his neighbor to add: “with us, the rules concerning screens are the same for parents and children”.
And all confirm that the example of parents is essential.
Especially with toddlers, who are built by mimicry.
Diane is more dubious about this option of dialogue, which is necessary, but sometimes insufficient.
“There is adolescence and doors slamming… We took the door away, trick!
And then my daughter was taken away from her phone for six months.
" Six months ?
The parents sitting in a circle open their eyes wide.
“Afterwards, we discovered a child who draws, reads, invites girlfriends.
At 18, my daughter told us that it was the best thing we had done for her!
»
Health
Covid-19: More than half of children have increased their screen consumption since the health crisis
Society
Pornography: "We must help parents to better protect their children", say Adrien Taquet and Cédric O
Society
Paris
Addiction
By the Web
child pornography
Digital
Child
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