[Un article de The Conversation écrit par Prescillia Micollet – Doctorante en Sciences de l”Éducation et de la Formation , Université Lumière Lyon 2]
The Education Program for Affective, Relational and Sexual Life (Evars) provides, from CM2, a link with media and information education (EMI). There are notions such as freedom of expression online, privacy, the right to intimacy, or even the prevention of cyberbullying. The objective is clear: “Make students learn to become responsible citizens. »»
Indeed, adolescents invest the social networks earlier and earlier, often without sufficient support. This raises crucial issues, especially that of “extmits”, a concept defined by the psychiatrist Serge Tisseron as “The desire to make visible certain facets of its intimacy, sometimes even without its knowledge, at the risk of arouse indifference or rejection”.
In the digital age, the border between private life and public space becomes unclear, making intimacy exposed at any time, as Yaëlle Amsellem-Mainguy recalls: “Easy access to pornography, exposure of sexuality on social networks or cyberbullying anxious, because they would be exercised in uncontrollable spaces. »»
In this context, what role does peer education play in the construction of adolescent digital behavior? To explore these questions, let us rely on observations in college and on a series of qualitative interviews in 12 French academies with trainers working in media education and emotional life education (nurses, main education advisers, teachers).
Insults and mockery on social networks
“75 % of young people aged 11-12 regularly use social networks. Snapchat, Instagram, Bereal, Whatsapp or Tiktok are no longer simple applications, but spaces of socialization in its own right. Adolescents build their relationships, their standards there … and sometimes their violence. On these platforms, the interactions are rapid, often thoughtless, with a humor that can tip over in humiliation.
Nurse : “My comrades say mean things about me on social networks. What do you think? »»
A student: “There are insults in the group (WhatsApp), and when you insult, you are displayed. »»
A student: “My friends insult me and laugh. »»
Another one : “Me, I think it's part of friendship, it's to tease. »»
A student: “With my friends, it's funny to do that. »»
Insults and mockery become harmless games with friends. The screen acts as an emotional filter: it uninhibited, disables. In addition “most of the words are violent and establish an unhealthy climate between the sexes”. Adolescents are not always aware of the hurtful scope of their words. This dynamic also promotes sexist words.
While some teenage girls thought equality of girls/boys acquired, they discover online a very real form of domination. As sociologist Marie Duru-Bellat reminds us: “There is still the trivialization of sexist mockery on the net (with for example the broadcasting of humorous pretension videos giving a degrading representation of women on platforms like Tiktok), as many developments pointed out from high equality advice … In total, 72 % of women aged 15 to 24 consider that women and men are not treated in the same way on social networks. »»
An exhibition logic
Another danger of this digital socialization is the sharing of intimate photos (” nudes ) Which are seen as a “normalization” of practices by adolescents. Many young people underestimate the consequences: a student: “There is a person, his photo has circulated and it is an intimate photo. Another asked many people to send him this photo. »»
What was perceived as a private exchange becomes a massive exhibition, with its share of mockery, harassment and humiliation. This logic of exhibition is fueled by the imitation of media models, especially from reality TV. Serge Tisseron expresses it as follows: “The more you look at me, the more you think you know me, the less you will know.” This is almost what each of the candidates for the famous Loft Story program, in spring 2001, said and repeated. »»
On the networks, the socialization between peers works by implicit standards: show, expose themselves, while risking humiliation if we go beyond the “good” limit. This contradiction strengthens normalized violence since children and adolescents are “overwhelmed with data of all kinds on sexuality”, often integrated as an ordinary way of being a group.
Think about standards and privacy
To bring adolescents to think about their relational, emotional and sexual practices, school health professionals, education advisers or even nurses favor the discussion between peers in order to “establish and ensure in the group a climate of confidence” and to invite students to respect everyone's speech, both during the session and their outcome.
The objective is to allow adolescents to reflect together, from their representations, experiences and according to “their age”, while helping them to develop their resistance to group pressure, including in the face of sensitive subjects such as sexuality, alcohol or the use of substances.
The sessions often reveal the strength of emulation between adolescents, which can promote awareness … but also amplify problematic behaviors as “violent sexual behavior”.
Educational education is therefore based on active methods to work on “key psychosocial skills” such as listening, taking back, expression of emotions, critical analysis and empathy, but also “humanist values”. These skills are essential to combat ordinary “relational and sexism” violence, but also to better understand the impact of socialization of and by social networks.
Because, through group discussion, students can deconstruct certain standards or practices seen as “banal” online, and become aware of the real effects of their words and acts on others.
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