Children should not have a telephone before the age of 16. Before, it is as if I left the car and ran over a family. Whose fault is it? It's ours". Says Francisco Villar, coordinator of suicidal behavior in adolescents at the Sant Joan de Déu hospital, urgently called to El món to RAC1 after the terrible case of the Sallent twins. I recommend you listen to the interview and stay tuned: repeat next week. Justify a radical measure with a lot of arguments.
Access to mobile phones leads adolescents to prematurely access information that reinforces suicidal desires (the damn algorithm) and leaves them alone in the face of bullying that goes beyond high school. And he adds: “It is not a losing battle. We have to do it together, in a group”, because the phones “are ours (the parents') and not theirs”.
I have a good friend, born far from here, who when his teenage daughter asked him for a cell phone, he said yes, but under his conditions. He had to carry a tracking application and have restricted daily hours of use, among other control measures. Although the teenager's protests were heard from miles away, she backed down.
Now she has had it for three years, she is getting older, she is approaching the age of majority, and many of the restrictions have been lifted, as her parents understand that the girl has gone through a learning process about the risks she can have its use.
I am not putting it as an example to follow, I am only trying to provide an example of what is at the center of the debate, beyond what happened in the Sallent tragedy, which can be more complex than a case of bullying. The mobile is a wonderful instrument of communication, information and work and leisure tool. But it can also host a good number of snake eggs. Especially on social networks, which promote hate and extreme content, which punish those who are different or who are outside the norm.
Critical sense and self-esteem are the best gift we can give our children. But they will be of little use if, before they have learned to use them, we put in their hands a gun loaded with fear and hate.
