New connected objects for children
Bodysuits and pacifiers to monitor babies, coats and watches with GPS for older children, children are spied on earlier and earlier. While these products are intended to keep children safe, they do raise many questions. In fact, at the time of autonomy, children are more “supervised” than “protected”. How will the child acquire the confidence necessary to grow up and emancipate himself from the family cocoon if his parents follow his every move? What are the implications for the parent-child relationship? Michaël Stora, psychologist and specialist in digital worlds and Monique de Kermadec, psychologist for children, author of the book “Pour que mon fils Succeed” at Albin Michel, give us their analysis …
Knowing where your child is in real time is every parent’s dream! A fantasy that has come true with the appearance, in recent months, of a series of very sophisticated gadgets that have appeared on the High Tech market. The Jumpy connected watch, dedicated to children from 5 years old, connects directly to parents’ smartphones and, thanks to an application, the child is geolocated. The connected watch Linkoo goes even further. It serves as a phone, has a GPS, and an SOS mode as well as a tracking system that follows the child in real time in secure areas, selected in advance, where he has the right to circulate. A message is sent each time he enters and leaves school, arrives or leaves the family home for example. The app even provides real-time child tracking history! The Gemo brand has launched a coat equipped with a GPS tracking beacon. At any time, this garment indicates to parents where their child is, a complete history of their movements, and the beacon emits a signal (email, SMS, notification) as soon as they arrive or come home from school at a defined time. .
Yes ” interest in this topic is low at the moment. On our side, we believe in it. Everything is ready. In less than 10 years, families will be able to simultaneously manage their heating and alarm on their smartphone and monitor their child in real time, ”explains Alexandre Chaverot, president of Avidsen, a company specializing in connected housing. The majority of connected object manufacturers believe they are responding to a request from parents, concerned about the safety of their children. But what is it really?
Connected objects: for the safety of children?
According to an OpinionWay connected object survey, in December 2014, 71% of people believe that these gadgets meet an expectation for the safety of children. According to Michaël Stora, psychologist and co-founder of the Observatory of digital worlds in human sciences (OMNSH), this “paradoxical injunction” sends a contradictory message to the child “of a freedom under surveillance”. For him, it’s as if we were telling him: “I’m watching you because I don’t trust you”. Sophie, a mother, is of the same opinion: “I think it’s good if there was ever a problem, but isn’t it a bit like going into psychosis? Because yes, it is reassuring but it can tempt parents to control the slightest actions. “Monique de Kermadec, psychologist, also explains:” the role of the parent is to guarantee the safety of his child. In the case of a connected object, it is a machine that monitors the child and watches over him instead of the adult. “For the psychologist, it is clear that” the more a child is supervised, the less he becomes autonomous. And he will feel loved when he is worried ”. The role of the parent is to teach the child to react to danger. If the parent creates a safe environment, “the child is no longer confronted with reality. He is kept in a certain innocence which does not allow him to know the real world as it is ”. It is also necessary that the parents speak again and quite simply recall the rules: “to be careful when crossing, not to speak to strangers”. Because yes, these watch bracelets and watches are not without consequences for the growing child.