A special committee tasked with studying the impact of screens and social media on Quebec’s youth says it intends to consult with young people directly to gain a clearer understanding of how technology affects their lives and well-being.
The Commission spéciale sur les impacts des écrans et des réseaux sociaux sur la santé et le développement des jeunes (CSESJ), an all-party committee, convened for the first time at the National Assembly Thursday to reveal how it plans to address the issues posed by a rapidly evolving digital landscape.
“We want to hear from young people,” said Amélie Dionne, president of the committee and MNA for Rivière-du-Loup–Témiscouata.
“We want to hear directly from them about their relationship with screens, social networks and video games.”
The commission, established in June, is tasked with examining key areas, including:
- The amount of time young people spend on screens.
- Supervision measures at school and online.
- Access to social media and video games.
- Cyberbullying and explicit content.
- Minors’ access to pornography.
- Addictive features in apps.
- Advertising targeted at children.
Starting in November, committee members intend to meet with students at select primary and secondary schools across Quebec, covering the regions of Gaspésie, Bas-Saint-Laurent, Côte-Nord, Quebec City, Montreal and the Outaouais.
Meanwhile, in the coming days, Dionne says the committee will be in “listening mode” as its 12 members receive input from about 40 organizations and experts, including specialists from fields such as education, health and social services, public safety, law and digital technology.
Parents and others with concerns are also encouraged to share their comments and experiences with the committee.
Committee ‘not ruling anything out’
Last May, Premier François Legault proposed this commission in response to pressure from the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) youth wing, which advocated for setting the minimum age for social media access at 16 and restricting screen time in schools.
In response to whether the committee will suggest such an age limit, Dionne said it is “not ruling anything out” and will hear from experts on the subject.
The CSESJ members include Liberal MNA Enrico Ciccone, Québec Solidaire MNA Alexandre Leduc and Parti Québécois MNA Pascal Bérubé.
Quebec Premier François Legault says his government is looking into setting age restrictions on creating social media accounts out of what he says is concern for the impact on young people’s mental health.
Leduc, for his part, emphasized there are a lot of perks to screen time and social media, such as learning through educational applications and bonding with family over a movie, for example.
“One hour of screen time is not necessarily a bad hour of screen time,” he said, saying the approach to addressing the issues associated with it must be nuanced.
Cellphones have been banned in Quebec classrooms since January, but how well this ban has been enforced and its effects on students are still being assessed.
The committee will also address how adults use their own cellphones in the presence of their children to assess the potential influence of this behaviour.
The committee is expected to submit a report with its recommendations no later than May 30, 2025.
Screen time on the rise
In Quebec, 94 per cent of young people aged six to 17 use electronic devices at home or elsewhere, including smartphones, computers, tablets and video game consoles, according to a 2023 survey by the Académie de la transformation numérique.
The smartphone is the most frequently used device, with nearly 74 per cent of young people using one.
The same survey shows that young people are spending increasingly more time online. In 2023, 45 per cent of individuals aged six to 17 spent more than 10 hours per week on average online, compared to 40 per cent in 2020.
And a study carried out on a large sample of Quebec adolescents reports that it was 460 minutes per day — or almost eight hours — in 2022. That’s up from 364 minutes, or about six hours, in 2018.