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One of the world's leading authorities on child mental health today warns that technology compromises children's development by disrupting the crucial learning relationship between adults and children.
Peter Fonagy, professor of contemporary psychoanalysis and developmental science at UCL, who has published more than 500 scientific articles and 19 books, warns that the digital world is reducing the time of contact between generations – a development with potential consequences adverse.
Fonagy, director of the Anna Freud National Center for Childhood and Family, a charitable organization working in the field of mental health, has devoted more than half a century to the study of the development of l & # 39; child. He says emotional disorders among young women ages 14 to 19 have become "much more common," while admissions in the self-assessment sector for self-injury have increased massively. More recently, he also worried about the outbreak of violence among boys.
Fonagy, who also advises the Ministry of Health and the NHS, said that the advent of smartphones and social media still meant that the current environment was far more complex for young people to negotiate.
"My impression is that young people have fewer face-to-face contacts with older people than ever before. A youth's socializing agent is another youth and the brain is not designed for that.
"It is designed so that a young person is socialized and supported in his development by an older person. Families have fewer meals together because people spend more time with their friends on the Internet. Digital is not really the problem, that's what digital technology brings out. "
Fonagy said that the loose bond between children and adults has existed since the Second World War, but that change has been accentuated in recent years.
Today's society, he said, puts more responsibility on children to determine their own future without giving them the support they need to make crucial decisions about their lives.
"We tell them to enter a good university or their life is not worth living." We tell them: "Everything depends on you". But we do not give them a choice. We do not say, "Let's look at a number of career choices you may have or what you would like to see". It's a difficult time for children. We do not appreciate it as much as we should. We should equip them better to be more resilient to the environment in which they are. "
Fonagy, 66, is in favor of the government's decision to set a minimum age for accessing pornography on the Internet, fearing that it already has an impact on children's development.
"Children are now less promising than in the past. It deters them from exposing themselves to pornography and it is worrisome because it will affect birth rates. "
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