In antiquity, Morpheus was the god of sleep. Hence the French expression “to give oneself up to the arms of Morpheus”, meaning the moment we fall asleep. In principle, this happens at night in our bed. But in a town in the Hauts-de-Seine, a primary school teacher asked to meet the family of one of their pupils who regularly fell asleep… in class. This obviously had consequences for the child’s attention, understanding and learning. During the conversation with the parents, the teacher discovered that the pupil shared a bedroom with an older brother, and that he watched television until late in the evening. The teacher then made this family aware of healthy screen use, taking into account the place, the times, and the importance of parental control. Understanding what was at stake in this regulation, the parents removed the television from their children’s bedroom.
On the strength of this finding, the teacher then decided to raise awareness among all their pupils by running a survey with them. Do they share their bedroom? Do they have a computer, tablet, console or television in their bedroom? Do they have free access to it? Are there rules for using it? Are they accompanied in their use? What time do they go to bed?
The teacher realised that two thirds of the pupils in the class have free access to a tablet or computer, mainly to play games and/or watch videos. Very few said they had precise rules about using these media. More than half of the children share their bedroom and play there with their siblings. Most of them know their bedtime, which is around 8.30 pm.
The teacher took advantage of this session to go back over the notion of time through the sequencing of a typical day: time to sleep, eat, wash, play, work… And they stressed the need to reduce screen time. In addition, they made their pupils aware of their sleep needs, in both quantity and quality, so that they can fully engage with learning in class.
Following this experience, the teacher now considers it essential to have this conversation about screens with their pupils at the start of every school year. But also at the parent/teacher meeting in September, in order to raise awareness among all families.
At “3-6-9-12”, we make questionnaires available to anyone who would like to carry out such small anonymous surveys on screen use.
F.GM
Flore Guattari is a developmental and educational psychologist. Psychotherapist in haptonomy. Facilitator of parent workshops.
