VIVACE PROD / SCREENSHOT / M6 / VIVACE PROD / SCREENSHOT / M6 Clelia, 16, spends more time talking to her friends on Snapchat than seeing them in real life.
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Clelia, 16, spends more time talking to her friends on Snapchat than seeing them in real life.
TEENS – In the palm of your hand, from sunrise to sunset. Like many teenagers, Clélia, 16, cannot do without this object that punctuates her daily life with notifications. On M6, No-Go Zone is interested this Sunday, September 22, in the mental health of 12-25 year olds, which continues to deteriorate. A dynamic whose number one suspect is the smartphone (and its accomplices of the same type like the tablet), and its omnipresence in their lives.
While in France, one in two young French people suffer from anxiety or depressive symptomswhich has exploded since the Covid crisis, teenagers spend an average of eight hours a day on a screen. A textbook case illustrated by M6, in the Var, by following the daily life of a family with three children aged 9, 13 and 16.
The eldest of the siblings, Clélia, who is studying for a vocational baccalaureate in aesthetics, is constantly browsing social media. On TikTok, she can watch up to 600 videos lasting a few seconds per hour. Scrolling has become second nature. And although her parents are vigilant, she spends up to 9 hours a day on her smartphone.
« In fact, we’re going to be on our phones too.”
The film crew follows the family during a typical weekend. The teenager tends to isolate herself in her room rather than participate in family activities and spends her Saturday afternoon on her bed, glued to the screen. Her only interactions with her friends are via voice messages, WhatsApp or Snapchat. Enough to intrigue her mother.
After two hours, she offers to take her to town to see her friends, but the girl declines the offer. We are already talking ” she says, pointing to her phone. The girl doesn’t even see the point in seeing them. ” In fact, we’re going to be on our phones too, it’s going to be the same.she believes. (…) For example, if we are in the subway, there will be one on her phone and the other who will look at it and wait. There will be no exchange. »
The report highlights something among 12-25 year olds: social isolation and the lack of real interactions, which are nevertheless necessary for their development and well-being. Just 20 years ago, teenagers spent 2.5 hours a day with friends. Now, they spend four times less, 40 minutes on average a day. “, the documentary emphasizes. However, friendly interactions or those outside the family circle are essential for the proper development of their brain.
Interactions between teenagers are “vital”
« It is vitalconfirms Alexandre Hubert, a child psychiatrist interviewed in the report. The idea, from an evolutionary point of view, is that the adolescent can establish his own home and be autonomous. (…) And in order to encourage this, emotions are more intense so as to reward more strongly anything that is going to be a link with friends. » Which means that during adolescence, hanging out with friends would be one of the activities that provides the most well-being.
And conversely, lacking friendly relationships can have harmful consequences on their mental health. On an emotional level, emotional pain will follow the same path as physical pain, explains the doctor. Which may explain why we can be disconcerted by the fact that adolescents can be very unwell in relation to things that would rather be friendly. »
The documentary points out that ” digital isolation ” of young people as the cause of this malaise. The report also highlights that beyond four hours of scrolling per day, the risk of anxiety among teenagers is multiplied by three. It also makes the link between screens and lack of sleep among young people, who have lost an hour of sleep per night in 25 years.
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