They are sometimes called the “Digital native”“but the expression is misleading because the generation of “Digital children”“(this is the Quebec translation) is not spared from electronics. This form of modern illiteracy affected 17% of the French population in 2019 according to INSEE, not just old people in rural areas. Age is of course a criterion, along with income and education level, but there is no standard profile and the period of confinement has made it possible to see this even more.
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Rights defender Jacques Toubon faced with the Senate’s fact-finding mission on electronics. Hearing of May 25, 2020.
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Far from being a marginal phenomenon
The coronavirus pandemic has further accentuated the importance of mastering digital tools. To do class at home, study, look for a job, telecommute, access public services or simply go out (the overriding exit application and soon the StopCovid app to protect yourself from the virus) … The government announces by elsewhere the dematerialization of all procedures with public services in 2022. However, many French people are still far from the mark. Almost 12 million are “illectronic (unable to use digital technology in their daily life) according to INSEE, which also has 47% of people lacking at least basic digital skills (communicating via an application, finding information, using processing text or solve a problem).
“Paradoxically, some young people, though born with new technologies and very comfortable with certain applications, are sometimes distraught as soon as the use becomes less fun”
Extract from the white paper “against electronic engineering”: https://t.co/qdujaHthSKpic.twitter.com/g7xSW3YDda– Social Press (@PresseSociale) September 30, 2019
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And young people are not spared, all social backgrounds combined: when confinement begins, 70% of teachers interviewed by the SynLab association feared dropping out of school for their students (from primary to secondary). According to a sociological study sure “home school” during confinement, 24.3% of parents of modest origin consider their equipment and internet access insufficient (compared to 17% of wealthier families). And the figures are even more striking concerning the feeling of computer competence: “45% of the upper classes feel fully capable of meeting the digital technical requirements of school at home, compared to only 31% of the working classes. “ What does in all cases a majority of people who do not feel level to accompany their child. However, adults in difficulty often make children in difficulty.
For associations working on digital inclusion, the period of confinement also made it possible to detect new audiences excluded from these technologies. Emmaüs Connect director Marie Cohen-Skalli explains:
Until now, we have mainly been targeting 16-25 year olds, the so-called Neet[[“not in education, employment or training”, no student, no employee, no intern]but we found that many younger people were also affected by this exclusion. Because they have no equipment, no connection or parents themselves who are far from digital … Many families are under-equipped or without connection and find it difficult to accompany their child for online education. – Marie Cohen-Skalli, director of Emmaus Connect
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“There are also many young people affected by electronics”: Marie Cohen-Skalli, director of Emmaus Connect
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With the closure of universities, some of the students also dropped out. To the extent that the UNEF claims the cancellation of the notes below average in Panthéon-Sorbonne … The case is before the courts because the university management opposes it, seeing it as an attack on the value of diplomas. According to the student union, this measure is necessary because “only 73% of students have personal IT equipment and 40% do not feel able to take distance tests in a reduced time”.
At ease with TikTok, much less with word processing
But electronics is not just a matter of lack of equipment. The question of skills acquisition is also central: in this area, the Secretary of State for Digital Cédric O quotes an anecdote. During the presentation of barometer on French people’s confidence in digital technology on February 24 in Bercy, he said:
“Many young people know very well how to use social networks or play Fortnite. But when it comes to registering with Pole Emploi, filing a tax return online, making a CV or sending an email [tranférer], it’s more complicated. This example of a young man telling his Pole Emploi advisor that he did not know how to forward an email came back to me several times “. – Cédric O, Secretary of State for Digital.
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“We think of the elderly, but not only”: Cédric O, Secretary of State for Digital Affairs, about electronics (barometer of confidence in the digital world, February 24, 2020)
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Asked about the anecdote, an adviser to the Secretary of State explained: “We regularly have these testimonies from carers with certain young people and barometric surveys clearly show this. The term ‘digital native’ is a social construction; there is not a single type of exclusion. with inclusions on one side and excluded on the other. There are several. We can be comfortable with certain technologies and much less with others “.
The diagnosis is confirmed by the associations. “We note that some young people have a recreational use of digital technology and that there is not necessarily a transfer of skills to professional or integration purposes”, explains Thomas Vandriessche, head of digital solutions at WeTechCare, an association member of the Emmaüs movement and which works for digital inclusion by supporting structures in contact with young people (and the not-so-young). “It is not because we use YouTube that we know how to search for a job online or write an application email correctly”, complete Thomas, “so there is a need for support”.