The Daily UbuntuThread 07 · Digital Solitude · September 25, 2026
When young people talk about screens
A National Assembly commission listened to more than 500 students and 7,075 citizens about screens. The young people also talked about their parents.
1 · The scene
Thursday supper, in Sherbrooke. For the third time, Nadia asks her son to put away his tablet. He finally sets it down, then looks her straight in the eye: "You're on your phone too."
She opens her mouth to defend herself, then falls silent. She turns her cellphone face down on the table. That evening, they talk about his soccer game, a slightly strict teacher, a friend who is moving away. Supper lasts twenty minutes longer than usual.
Original vignette
2 · The documented case
The special commission on screens and young people
On June 6, 2024, Quebec's National Assembly adopted a motion creating a special commission on the impact of screens and social media on young people's health and development. Its work lasted nearly a year.
The commission heard 66 individuals and organizations. Above all, it took the time to go to young people: its members met more than 500 students in 17 elementary and high schools. Its online consultation was completed by 7,075 people, a record for the National Assembly.
On May 29, 2025, it tabled its final report, which contains 56 recommendations. Among them: banning personal mobile devices in elementary and high schools, and setting a "digital age of majority" of 14 for access to social media. The report also gives children a voice, and they describe, without mincing words, parents absorbed by their own screens.
Ubuntu reminds us that a child learns first by watching the adults around them. Protecting young people from screens is also a shared responsibility: that of families, schools and the whole community, which can offer other places to meet.
3 · The voice
“my dad spends more time on his phone than I do”
4 · The question
What example of presence do you want the young people around you to remember?
Sources
- National Assembly of Quebec, page of the Special Commission on the impact of screens and social media, 2024-2025 (in French). www.assnat.qc.ca
- National Assembly of Quebec, "Impacts des écrans chez les jeunes : la Commission spéciale dépose son rapport final," May 29, 2025 (in French). www.assnat.qc.ca
- Special Commission, final report, May 2025 (in French). www.assnat.qc.ca
Every figure on this page links to a verifiable public source.
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