On May 6th 2010, COFACE, in cooperation with the European Economic and Social Committee, organised a Seminar on Families and Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs). Three main themes were discussed: social networking, video games and mobile technologies. (Programmme)

Parents are faced with many questions regarding ICTs nowadays and it is essential that we help them to find answers. Social networking raises questions on the very notion of privacy and especially, the role parents should play, how far should education go, how far should parental control go? Is their a way to secure a responsible behaviour of children online by giving them the means to act responsibly? (e.g. by giving them the possibility to moderate content themselves). Parents also need to feel that social networking providers are doing their utmost to protect their users and therefore ask what is being done regarding the internet governance as a whole.

As regards video games and mobile technologies, one must realise that these will be and are already starting to be closely linked to that of social networking and web 2.0. Very recently, SAGEM has started to manufacture a SIM card which can directly connect to Wi-Fi networks, therefore enabling any mobile phone to connect to an open Wi-Fi network and surf online.

Most children nowadays have mobile phones, and as technology progresses, these come with features such as photo and video recording and open platforms for applications such as Facebook. Parents will be confronted, in the future, with children surfing the web and interacting on social networks on their personal mobile devices rather than on the "family" computer.

And finally, video games are becoming more and more interactive, with possibilities to play online. Besides, social networks have developed thousands of "game applications" where children can play. Mobile phones such as the iPhone, have free downloadable games available through the Appstore. Gaming is becoming linked both to the web 2.0 and mobile technologies.