Tracking clocks, secret microphones… let them live! The opinion of Vanessa Lalo, a psychologist specializing in digital usage.
Apple AirTag, “Locate” on the iPhone, on the back of watches… Geographic applications and gadgets are multiplying. millions of parents use them worldwide. A steep upward trend associated with parental anxiety. “We have a sense of living in a more dangerous world… while it’s just more anxiety-provoking because of the constant stream of news on the news channels,” module Vanessa Lalo, clinical psychologist, specialist in digital applications. So what should we think about these tools?
Personal life
They should be used sparingly. A child can build himself only if he has a “secret space” inaccessible to parents. Recently, rights activist Claire Haddon raised concerns about the erasure of children’s privacy. “In the 1950s, says Vanessa Lalo, children had 10 km of autonomy. Today they have only 1 km, which does not really encourage them to grow.
In the video, what are the effects of screens on children’s brains?
scopic engine
What is called the “scopic drive” (the desire to see everything, to know everything) is insatiable. Suffice it to say that geolocation cannot fully satisfy the desire for parental control… In addition, the tools defy the principle of reality; the battery may fall or the child may be left on the sidewalk with a friend. The main concern is educational. it does not promote the child’s attachment to autonomy. “A child who is over-supervised may develop anxiety and even begin to lie in order to preserve his share of freedom,” analyzes Vanessa Lalo. A real educational gesture would be to teach children how to find their way in the real world, how to protect themselves and avoid dangers…”
Select the transparency
If geolocation is used, it must be done transparently. From the age of 7-8, when they start going outside, even to go to school, we can ask them what they think about it, if it can calm them down. And we adults are also recommended to be geographically distributed. The tool is important. while a geo-app phone is an acceptable process, a watch dedicated to tracking is ethically dubious, as is Findmykids, an app that allows you to remotely activate your child’s microphone, or Ourpact, which takes screenshots of children. internet activity…
An over-controlled child may develop anxiety or even begin to lie in order to maintain his share of freedom.
Vanessa Lalo, psychologist
give them a hand
In order to maintain the educational aspect and above all not to break the mutual trust, the child can be asked to control the application, to activate it when he leaves for school and returns. From the age of 14-15, if a teenager accepts the principle of parental supervision, why not? But he should have the right to de-geolocation at any time. “In any case, a young man will always manage to ‘forget’ a phone or a watch at a friend’s house… to preserve his personal space.” And this is a condition sine qua non to grow.”
Source: Le Figaro
