Screens give access to mines of information and entertainment. But they can also take up all our attention and shut us into “digital bubbles”. Parents are as affected as children. It was starting from this observation that the Ministry of National Education, Children and Youth of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg launched a general action plan for education in digital tools.
On 7 November 2024, in front of more than 600 spectators, Serge Tisseron kicked off this campaign in favour of balanced screen use, very aptly called Screen-Life-Balance. He was accompanied by Mrs Martine Deprez, Minister of Health and Social Security, and Mr Claude Meisch, Minister of National Education, Children and Youth. As the latter reminded the audience in his introduction: “Children need a balance between digital activities and real life! For this, we need clear rules at school, at home and in society.”
The website dedicated to this initiative (https://secher.digital/fr/) presents things this way: “The campaign, the recommendations and the benchmark ages are inspired by the work of Dr Serge Tisseron, French psychiatrist and doctor of psychology, author of the book 3-6-9-12+ Apprivoiser les écrans et grandir (éditions Érès, 2024). For some fifteen years, Dr Tisseron has been alerting public opinion to the dangers of screens for young children. He has designed a structured framework to help parents integrate screens into their children’s lives in a way that is beneficial and suited to each stage of their development.” On this occasion Serge Tisseron gave several interviews: to Radio 100,7, to RTL (Mrs Caroline Marthe), and to the two main Luxembourg daily newspapers, the Tageblatt Lëtzebuerg and the Luxemburger Wort.
A letter to parents was also widely distributed: https://eltereforum.lu/fr/ressource-type/lettres-parentales/ Finally, a descriptive video gives an overview of the activities, all free of charge, offered in nine centres spread across the country, to encourage local meetings and exchanges: https://youtu.be/7ZcB4D34_6g?si=gXraSBL_dxvPLqFF.
An example to follow! When will France make up its mind ?
