Samuel Comblez: faced with these challenges, “teens are much more critical, reasonable, and mature than we imagine”
Samuel Comblez is director of operations for the association e-Enfance/3018*, which fights against all the risks linked to the Internet: violence, pornography, misinformation…
He neither observes nor fears death because of this new challenge: “We have 18,000 calls per year, up 50% per year. These types of challenges, we see them appear early, but we have very few calls on them. Children are still driven by a life drive, overall. »
And to specify: “The media always seize it very quickly and play their role: it is not a blind spot. Young people talk about it, know about it, but are not fooled. I find them very critical, very reasonable, very mature on these subjects. Much more than a few years ago. They make a very good distinction between what is playful and what is dangerous. Much more than we imagine. »
Samuel Comblez does not evacuate all risk: he recalls that “if these challenges do not cause discomfort in adolescents, they can reveal it. There is a segment of the teenage population that is not doing well, that’s a fact. “And to recall that its association with the ability to remove “in a few minutes” a publication reported on social networks, as a “trusted third party”.
Regarding the “LabelloChallenge”, the message is “be careful, this type of challenge is not a way to integrate you, to make you accepted or to arouse admiration”. But he is more worried about other “games”, which without being so explicit, could lead to accidental death, such as the headscarf game or climbing on the roof of running trains.
* 3018 (free and anonymous call, Monday to Saturday from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.).