Génération Numérique: interview with animator Sami Charfi

[Dimaeiya333]

The French association Génération Numérique has been teaching children and teenagers about the Internet for 20 years. For 12 of those years, facilitator Sami Charfi has been at the forefront, giving workshops in schools with the aim of demystifying the Internet and social networks, and tackling the problem of online bullying head-on. An army veteran, Charfi knew little about social networks when he started; today, the self-deprecating fifty-something is a self-taught expert in all things technology and in getting children to listen to him. In this interview, he explains how the evolution of social networks has influenced children's behaviour and their expectations of the world.


How have children's ideas and reactions to social media evolved over the time you have been working with them?
With children, it is quite easy to recognize their tendency to conformism. Contrary to popular belief, young people are not necessarily rebellious children , but quite the opposite. They are very aligned with what vp design officers email database is imposed on them by the media, or with the model set by social networks. They follow it blindly, and as soon as something new appears, they go for it. The change has not been significant in their behavior. They have always been like that. The problems we are encountering are related to the use of social networks, the image of the platforms and the idea that they can get rich through influence. They think: “What is the point of studying mathematics after all? History of France? What is the point of doing high school? Because I am handsome, I am beautiful, or at least I have charisma and I can make a living with that.” Let's take a show like Touche Pas à Mon Poste, which has 2 million viewers, but which only presents hypersensationalist and highly consumerist things, and regularly has reality TV influencers as guests. And that's what children watch.

This model appeared two years ago, when we were talking about YouTubers. It was something fun and cool. The guy who makes you laugh on something called YouTube, that's something new. I'm not talking about the old YouTubers who have made careers that have taken off, some have even gone into film. When it comes to influencers, there is a kind of path that is completely deviated from reality. Most of them are candidates on reality shows. They are created characters. They are not forbidden from saying any stupidity, on the contrary, they are pushed to go as far as possible . For the viewer, hearing someone say something stupid reassures them about their own intellect.

There's also the aspirational side: they're young and good-looking, they live in amazing houses, they're there to find love. They create lives that seem real to us, but they're not. And as soon as they finish the show, they're promoted on social media with the sole aim of showing a fake life, but in exchange there are brands that pay. And the more popular you are, the more followers you'll have, and the more the brand will pay to use your image.