A generation tested without consent
They were 10, 12 or 14 years old when they opened their first Instagram, Snapchat or Tiktok account. They were still children when they plunged into a digital universe shaped by algorithms that they did not understand. None of them signed a consent form. None have been notified of the risks. And yet, they all served as a raw material for a gigantic behavioral experience worldwide.
This generation is the one that grew up with a smartphone in the pocket and social platforms as the main social interface. A generation that we have not protected, but that we observed. Generation Z. Connected generation. Cobaye generation.
An experience without protocol, without ethical committee, without limit
For fifteen years, social networks have been testing features on millions of users in real time. News lines, notifications, infinite scroll, short videos, beauty filters: everything is optimized to hold attention, influence behavior and maximize engagement. These permanent iterations, calibrated on behavioral data, transformed young people into algorithmic experimentation subjects.
Unlike a clinical study or university research, this experiment is neither supervised nor transparent. Its objective is not knowledge, but profitability. It is not aimed at understanding young people, but manipulate them more effectively.
Documented effects, elected responsibilities
The consequences are now known and measured:
- 📉 Fall of mental health in adolescents, especially young girls.
- 📲 Increase in telephone compulsive behaviors (verification, reflex scroll).
- 🧠 Decrease in concentration capacity and boredom tolerance.
- 🤳 Construction of self -esteem through social validation indicators (Likes, followers).
- 🌪️ Increased exposure to violent, extreme or unhealthy content via algorithmic loops.
Researchers like Jonathan Haidt and whistleblowers like Frances Haugen have shown that these effects were not Neither ignored nor involuntary. The platforms had access to the data. They saw the impact. They chose not to act.
A generation under digital residence
What distinguishes generation Z from its elders is not only its degree of connection, but the impossibility of extracting. Where adults adopted the networks in adulthood, young people were socialized there. They did not know before. For them, disconnecting is fade away.
The platforms have become validation, socialization, recognition spaces. They are integrated into school, love life, culture. Getting out of the system is cutting off from your peers.
And yet, there are more and more numerous at question this architecture : Emma Lembke, founder of Log Off, summarizes it as follows: “We did not choose to be the subjects of one of the greatest psychological tests in modern history. »»
An inverted generational fracture
Traditional roles are jostled. It is no longer adults who protect children, but Young people who alert to a system that destroys them. The teachers lose the battle for attention. Parents are overwhelmed by tools they do not master. And policies are struggling to catch up with transnational, opaque and overpowered platforms.
Faced with this, voices rise. Coalitions emerge. The Activate Media movementin the United States, offers an incubator of platforms co-constructed by young people. Digital detox initiatives, attention education and the right to disconnect.
But these movements remain in the minority, hampered by the inertia of the public authorities and the lucrative indifference of platforms.
Get out of guinea pig status: rethink the design of platforms
We do not reform an experience in progress. It’s necessary change the protocol. And it starts with five fundamental principles:
- Co-construction : associate young people with the design of the products they use.
- Attentional sovereignty : Place well-being at the heart of successful metrics.
- Design ethics : Prohibit the default addictive mechanics.
- Algorithmic transparency : make visible the operation of recommendation systems.
- Economic regulation : tax or prohibit models based solely on the advertising exploitation of behavior.
The Z generation does not want to return to a world without technology. She wants technologies that do not mistreat it.
There is still time to change role
The guinea pigs did not agree. They were not informed of the risks. They cannot afford to get out of the experience alone. It is therefore not up to them to carry the burden of the solution alone.
The role of adults, regulators, advertisers and developers is to Take this generation out of forced experimentation to which she is subject. It is not a favor. It is a responsibility.
If we do nothing, we will remain the passive witnesses of a predictable psychological disaster. If we act, then perhaps, this generation will no longer be a guinea pig generation, but The first to reconquer its digital sovereignty.
