In an interview, Dr. Catherine L’Ecuyer, a kid improvement expert and Montessori educator, discusses how technology can not only distract young minds, but besides dull their sense of wonder and hinder deep learning. She elaborates on the impact of smartphones on focus and concentration, the limits of tablets as educational tools, and applicable strategies parents can usage to aid their children make healthily in the digital age.
Catherine L’Ecuyer
She holds an MBA and a European Master’s degree in Research, as well as a Doctorate in Education and Psychology. She is an educator and investigator who has published technological articles on topics including Montessori education. She has written respective books and articles on education, including „It Looks Better in 3D”, which was the first book to question the usage of digital technology during childhood and adolescence.
Ilona Sobul: We had the pleasance of listening to your speech at the “Attention, smartphone!” conference in Kraków, Poland, in April 2024. We were very inspired by the concept you presented of how cognitive processes happen in children, and how curiosity and a passion for exploring the world, discovering themselves, and their hobbies are awakened. We find this subject peculiarly interesting in the context of smartphones and their possible to interfere with cognitive processes, yet affecting children’s lives. Could you give our readers a glimpse of what is crucial in the process of children’s development, the awakening of their passions, and the process of learning?
dr Catherine L’Ecuyer: Wonder is the driving force behind all meaningful education and all the processes of learning. It is the child’s innate consequence to encountering the planet with fresh eyes, where nothing is taken for granted and everything, by its specified existence, feels miraculous. This sense of awe awakens a deep desire to know, to understand, to explore. It fuels curiosity, sustained attention, and the search for meaning—all essential components of real learning. From a neurological perspective, the ability to pay attention, closely tied to wonder, is simply a key executive function and 1 of the strongest predictors of academic success. erstwhile we honor a child’s wonder, alternatively than impose filters or ready-made answers, we let them to engage with reality openly, attentively, and authentically. In this way, wonder is not a passing emotion but a vital condition for intellectual growth, emotional depth, and a lifelong love of learning.
You mentioned that curiosity about the planet is natural for kids. It develops the desire to learn and explore. How does the smartphone disrupt this process?
By nature, children want to know what’s happening around them. They usually discover reality at their own pace, which is very slow. erstwhile children are exposed to external stimuli induced by technology, their desire to learn is dormant, and they feel dull. They start to trust on external stimuli to stay curious in reality. alternatively of paying sustained attention to their surroundings, they enter another mode – passive fascination with reality.
In your opinion, what skills do children request to make to decently engage with technology and not lose curiosity and the ability to learn?
To deal with technology without losing their curiosity and ability to learn, children request to make interior capacities that aid them stay grounded and intentional. Most crucial is the ability to pay attention and concentrate, as it allows children to engage profoundly with the reality around them. Also, self-control and the ability to anticipate delayed gratification are vital in resisting the instant rewards of digital environments. Recognizing what is crucial and what is not helps children filter overwhelming information and stay focused on meaningful content.
Equally crucial are the social-emotional dimensions: distinguishing between public and private realms, as well as a healthy sense of intimacy that helps them make identity and integrity. Yet another aspect we should focus on before handing children a part of technology is nurturing in them the sensitivity to beauty. It not only evokes wonder, curiosity, and a desire to defend and an emotional connection, but besides counterbalances the digital content. Together, these qualities form the core of a resilient, curious learner—one who uses technology as a tool, not a distraction.
You besides mentioned the skills children request to make to usage the net safely and responsibly. Is it possible to find an appropriate age for that?
There is no set age. I know it can be scandalous to say that, but I don’t mind. I am convinced that in around 5 years, selling devices to people under eighteen will be illegal. I believe children and teenagers are not prepared to manage a device designed for addiction.
Our organization has besides appealed to the Ministry of Digital Affairs and the Ministry of Education, calling for a ban on smartphone usage at schools. But most people, including many experts on the subject of technology and digital hygiene, argue that a ban is not a adequate solution.
The ban is not enough, but there is no contradiction between banning and educating. It is not 1 or the another – they must go hand in hand. You request to educate children so that they realize the ban; otherwise, it is going nowhere. But if you only educate without banning, your education might not be effective.
You argue that smartphones should not be utilized by children as they are not strong and assertive adequate to handle them. Could you elaborate on that?
A young kid or teenager has not yet developed the executive function of inhibition (the ability to control actions and refrain from impulsive reactions – ed.). So, they are incapable to say “no” to many things they see on the Internet. It is essential to keep in head how powerful this manufacture is and how powerful the porn manufacture is. Children may not be actively searching for pornography online, but the pornography manufacture is targeting them. It is very hard for a kid to defy it, due to the fact that various intellectual techniques are utilized to keep them engaged online as long as possible. Many of the apps they usage are designed that way. It works like any kind of a hook – children want a smartphone at first, and erstwhile they have it, they download social apps. 1 thing leads to another. And WhatsApp is simply a large issue.
I think that 1 of the most addictive applications is WhatsApp, and I have a problem with it myself. I am even considering getting free of it. It is disturbing that anybody can contact you at anytime from anywhere in the world. They can interrupt a conversation with your husband in the morning, due to the fact that they message you from Mexico, saying that individual gave them your telephone number. And you read it thinking, “I don’t really know this person”. It is crazy.
In 1 of your articles, you argue that requiring children to control themselves is pointless due to the fact that social media and its content are designed to make people addicted.
That is why I laughter whenever individual talks about the liable usage of social media. Honesty, I do not believe that there is liable social media usage by twelve-, fourteen-, or even sixteen-year-olds. Its impact on youth is besides strong. There is no work without freedom, and erstwhile there is something irresistible, no freedom is in question for sure.
You state it from the position not only of an experienced pedagogue and a Doctor in Education and Psychology, but besides an expert on the Montessori method.
Yes, I did my PhD on Montessori. any people believe that discipline and freedom are contradictory, but they are not. Montessori utilized to say that there is no freedom without discipline, due to the fact that if you do not control yourself, you are not truly free.
Do you agree that even teenagers do not have the appropriate skills or adequate self-control to deal with fresh technologies?
Yes. I believe that self-regulation is hard not only for children but besides for teenagers. There are discussions about delaying smartphone introduction to the teenage years. And I think that it is as harmful as giving it to children. Teenagers are very vulnerable; they care about what others think of them and build their self-identity around it. It definitely should not take place online. They request to realize who they are by looking into their parents’ eyes, not at the number of likes they get. They besides tend to make risky decisions. If you give a smartphone to individual who underestimates risk, you are going to have quite a few problems for sure.
Because of social apps, teenagers do not really know how to meet and flirt with someone, due to the fact that everything is online. Nowadays, erstwhile you see a image online and find individual attractive, you contact them directly. And so, young people start and end relationships online due to the fact that they do not know how to do this in any another way. I believe that in 10 years, we will have a immense social movement offline demanding to return to the luxury of interpersonal relationships.
I do not know if you have reached this minute in Poland, but in Spain, thousands of parents have realized that they are addicted to smartphones. They cannot manage their addiction, so it is even more hard for children, who are not yet emotionally and cognitively ready to do so. Now, there are increasing movements advocating for no usage of smartphones before the age of 16. It is simply a social phenomenon that nobody expected. It began in November 2023 all over Spain (when the Spanish government banned smartphone usage in schools that year, thousands of parents in Barcelona began debating on WhatsApp about the addictive impact of these devices – ed.).
What can be done erstwhile nowadays most kids have their smartphones by the age of 8 or ten?
Parents should take smartphones distant from their children. Now we are starting to discuss things we would alternatively not have… For instance, erstwhile you have cancer, you can effort to cure it with affirmative thoughts or vitamins. possibly you do not want surgery, but at any point, you may have no another choice. erstwhile you realize that affirmative thoughts and vitamins do not work, you might gotta opt for a more drastic solution. Taking the smartphone from your child’s hands may seem drastic, but in the end, their life can blossom again. It turns out that not giving a kid a smartphone is not the end of the planet – it is rather the opposite.
Do you know it from your own experience?
Yes. but for my oldest daughter, who is nineteen, my children do not have smartphones; neither my eighteen-year-old son, nor my sixteen- and twelve-year-olds. In fact, we never gave them smartphones. There was only 1 smartphone shared in the family, available for everyone, and we decided that it was not a good thought either.
Do your children feel like they are missing out on something?
No. Obviously, there are moments of tension, but they never got truly upset with us. They are grateful due to the fact that they see the consequences in another children. We do not have social networks for individual purposes; I only usage them for my work. My husband does not have any, as well as my children, and they do not want it. My daughter, who is nineteen has a smartphone, but she does not want to usage social networks as well.
You seem to be very authentic as you follow the principles you advocate for.
Well, I believe that individual experience is very important. The approach must be adapted to each person. all kid is unique. It may besides disagree for girls and boys. Girls mostly mature before boys, but all case is specific.
What would you tell parents who say that children request to have their phones during their classes, due to the fact that they want to have contact with them?
Well, if your kid is at school, you do not request to talk with them due to the fact that they are busy listening to the teacher. possibly you request to talk to your kid after school due to the fact that you request to know where they are and if something happens to them on the train on the way home. I realize that. But there is inactive something called a dumb phone – a average telephone without net access. With a dumb phone, you can inactive call them, and they can call you. My children have utilized dumb phones since they were sixteen. And erstwhile there is simply a organization or a social event, their friends call and invitation them. They have quite a few friends. erstwhile 1 of them has a birthday, about forty people show up.
Do another children tease them due to the fact that they do not have smartphones?
No. If you want your children to admit the dangers related to owning a smartphone, you request to educate them. Also, they request to be aware that being different from others is not a problem, but it is simply a strength, a virtue, and a part of forming a personality. Most likely, this lesson will make them stronger.
In Poland, there are inactive people who insist that schools should be more digital. Should digital devices be utilized in education? If so, to what extent? What conditions must be met? Sometimes teachers are unsure how to conduct lessons erstwhile children are not curious in conventional teaching methods.
When a kid is overstimulated, they are incapable to pay attention. Thus, you have 2 solutions. The first 1 is to bring them back to reality by adapting them to slow teaching and slow conversation. It is simply a more hard but sustainable path. The another option is to go with the flow and do the same as the technological manufacture – to overstimulate students by covering school walls with screens to keep their attention. But this strategy, alternatively of evoking sustained attention, provokes a passive fascination. In specified a way, you do not aid children learn better. You are just ensuring everyone is captivated and silent in front of the screen. This is not the same.
There are no extended and long-term studies that prove tablets are effective educational tools in schools. There is no rigorous evidence for that. It is the another way around: there are more and more studies suggesting that technology at school interrupts the concentration process and is affecting learning negatively.
If you were to advise teachers on how to run their classes, what would you say?
First, we request to specify the age group they work with. It is simply a large mistake to generalize about that. Since a kid is different at each phase of development, diverse methods are appropriate for kindergarten, primary school, secondary school, and university. For instance, a kid who is between zero to 5 years old is not able to think abstractly. They are more concrete, so they request sensory experiences and interpersonal relationships. If we are talking about children in simple school, their needs are the same as those of younger ones, but they start to think abstractly. erstwhile discussing methods, we request to consider that the capacity for abstraction increases over time. Screens should never be utilized by children under six. utilized before the age, they can make problems.
What kind of problems?
Inattention, impulsivity, and the impoverishment of vocabulary. I mean the word gaps – if you have little vulnerability to conversations, you know less words, and in consequence, you are incapable to realize a text. How can you be curious in reading a book if you do not realize it? It stirs up a vicious circle.
Why do parents stay passive in the face of their children’s addiction to devices? What do you think?
I think we have besides small time. It takes quite a few time to educate and put limits on children. And it is exhausting, really. We live in fast-paced times, we are very busy, and we work a lot. It is very hard to deal with this pressure. It is crucial to return to basics and realize that good education starts with spending quite a few time with your children. Governments should aid parents by putting regulations on the tech manufacture so parents can regain authority.
I have a feeling that governments are not taking any action.
Many governments have signed contracts with technological companies, which require the introduction of tablets in schools. Banning smartphones in classrooms creates a contradiction, and that complicates the situation.
The media besides leave it uncovered.
Sometimes, media outlets face a conflict of interest due to the fact that they’re in the business of selling readers’ attention to sponsors, alternatively than providing content to their readers. These sponsors are technological companies that have quite a few money to buy ads in the media outlets. Also, they have money to pay speakers at educational congresses and sponsor studies on their products. I think it is truly crucial to show the planet how many people are in a clear conflict of interest.
You said that there should be the burden of proof on corporations and that it should be their work to prove that smartphones are not harmful. By now, it is the other – it is the society that signals that something is wrong. Could you talk more about it?
Anyone introducing a device to school and saying it will revolutionize education carries a double burden of proof. The first thing that they gotta prove is that there is simply a relation between the usage of technology and the improvement of education, and that it serves its purpose. Secondly, they request to prove that there are no negative side effects.
The technological manufacture never had to do this, and we have never required them to. Companies just introduced the technology without having to prove anything. Now, after any time, we are seeing the negative effects alternatively than the benefits. Parents ask schools to halt utilizing them, but schools are bound by contracts. I think that parents should request accountability.
Also, teachers and school principals must take work for signing contracts with technological companies and supply evidence that this is an educational method, as there is no evidence for that right now.
Why do you consider the usage of fresh technologies in classrooms problematic?
Tech companies benefit from capturing the attention of our children and collecting their data. many privacy issues have been ignored, so these companies get information about our children in exchange for introducing their tools in schools. There is simply a business here. It’s not an educational issue. The schoolroom should not be a place for experimentation and investigating technology devices.
Thank you very much for the conversation.
Ilona Sobul
