Philosphères participe au Colloque international « Philosophie pour/avec les enfants dans l’école et hors de l’école », organisé à Bucarest, les 28 et 29 octobre 2022 avec une communication proposée par Florence Louis, « Les enfants et internet : ce que révèlent les pratiques philosophiques », samedi 28 octobre, 9h/9h30 (temps européen). Le colloque est à retrouver en ligne sur le site de l’Université de Bucarest.

Retour sur les ateliers à visée philosophique menés depuis plusieurs années à Bordeaux et dans sa métropole, avec le soutien de l’Agence régionale de santé, la Ville de Bordeaux (DSU, Bordeaux Sud), Bordeaux métropole (Les Juniors du développement durable) l’Etat (ANCT Politique de la Ville), la CAF, le département de la Gironde.

Article à lire en ligne dans le numéro 94, novembre 2023 de la revue Diotime

Abstract

Children and the Internet : what philosophical practices in school reveal
Key words : Internet, children, boredom, anguish, education, sexuality
« At a time when almost all the children are increasingly plunged in the digital world, at home or at school, when the majority of teenagers is using a smartphone several hours per day, practising philosophy with them offers opportunity to open the debat about the place of screens in their life. Contrary to the positive image that is promoted by the mass media, children express massively their suffering : they feel loneliness, they deplore adults’ attitudes to screens, they are full of fears fed by what they find in the Internet, some of them have chronic fatigue and insomnia…
In front of what Manfred Spitzer call Digital Demenz, they are able to lead a philosophical reflection much more free than their olders : why are we so dependent and how should we respond ? Children understand that there are leaks between anguish and boredom, between emptiness and wholeness, betwwen desire and lack (cf. Martin Heidegger, Giorgio Agamben). However, even if most of them share that they are prisoners of a digital environment, only those which have the possibility to get out and play outside can establish the link between freedom and Nature (cf. Bernard Charbonneau, Thierry Paquot).
The access to pornography and violence constitutes a worrying blind spot in the new situation : as the very foundation of cultures all around the world is the separation between children and adults with regards to sexuality, Internet submit children to tentation to transgress prohibition : it only takes one click and they can enter without any ritual initiation to the heart of orgiastic chaos. That’s why the subject of hell is recurring in children discussions about the Internet.
This contribution aims to launch the debate on the switchover thanks to the philosophical practives which allow to gather children’s opinions and testimonies. »
• Florence Louis, founder association Philospheres (Bordeaux, France), practices philosophy for children for 2015, graduate of the University of Sorbonne, Paris, (France), where she earned a Masters of moral philosophy and a masters of Political Philosophy. Author (2020 ; 2022).
• Association Philospheres (Director) , Association Aquitaine Bernard Charbonneau Jacques Ellul (President), Carrefour Ventadour (Vice-présidente)