For Gardois Alexandre Pascal, member of the General Inspectorate of Social Affairs: “screens must find their rightful place, in the service of humans”

Énarque, haut fonctionnaire, Alexandre Pascal est membre de l’Inspection générale des affaires sociales. D.R. – Midi Libre

Le 30 avril, à l’Élysée, le rapport "Enfants et écrans. A la recherche du temps perdu" était officiellement remis au Président de la République. Le Gardois, originaire de Clarensac, Alexandre Pascal en a été le co-rapporteur.

Tuesday April 30, the report "Children and screens. In search of lost time was returned to the President of the Republic. How and why did you find yourself co-rapporteur of this project ?

In the age of our “everything connected” societies, a lot of often contradictory information circulates on screens. Whether it concerns their possible benefits or their real or supposed dangerousness, scientific consensus is rare. Because it seemed necessary to take stock, particularly on the relationship between these screens and our children, the Head of State installed a commission made up of 10 experts in January, to carry out ;rsquo;a complete and detailed situation update. In my capacity as Inspector General member of IGAS (General Inspectorate of Social Affairs), I was appointed co-rapporteur within this working group alongside Carole Bousquet-Bérard, current director of office of the Minister of Health and Prevention.

For three months, we were responsible for the practical organization of the commission's work, while offering our expertise as well as technical support to its ten members. Leading authorities in their respective fields: legal, psychiatry, neurology, education and child protection.

Your report draws up a particularly alarming preliminary observation, regarding the place now assigned to children in our society.
What exactly is it ?

Throughout our preparatory work, we have observed that the almost permanent presence of screens in our lives and their multiplicity (phone, tablet, computer, etc.) has the effect of making younger people invisible.

Who has not observed, on a train for example, an overwhelmed parent putting a screen in the hands of a toddler, so that the latter stops moving, to speak, or more simply to interact with those around them ? With screens, our children disappear, fading into the social group. And it seems urgent to us to give them back their rightful place!

What are the major risks of children's exposure to screens noted by your committee ?

They are of several orders. Firstly somatic, in that screens alter the time and quality of sleep and promote a sedentary lifestyle as well as poor diet among users. Users who therefore find themselves more exposed to heart pathologies, obesity and diabetes. Note also that cases of myopia are exploding. We can truly speak about an epidemic. And not just in Asia!

Among the youngest, the learning of language or even emotions, and more generally their overall development, are seriously impaired by what we call « technoference ». Namely the interruption of interpersonal communication due to this attention paid to personal technological devices.

Finally, regarding risks for mental health, screens are, in our opinion, aggravating factors of certain pathologies in subjects with predispositions and fragilities. But they cannot, in our opinion, be considered as the determining factor in the occurrence of these pathologies.

What about the solutions ?

Now in the hands of the government, our report suggests in almost 50 pages no less than 29 interdependent recommendations to put screens back in their rightful place as soon as possible: namely in the service of human beings. Regulating the place of screens in the lives of children and adolescents has become a public health issue, while in France, in 2023, young people aged 13 to 18 will have no less than 3 own screens, and 7-12 years old, 1.6 screen (tablet, smartphone, laptop)!

In practice, these proposals – to be realized on a European scale – aim to make stakeholders in the digital economy, education and early childhood establishments and families responsible for the proper use of screens. And, finally, to offer supervised and progressive support for children towards digital technology. For safe use and above all suitable for each age.

https://www.elysee.fr/admin/upload/default/0001/16/fbec6abe9d9cc1bff3043d87b9f7951e62779b09.pdf