"The most representative institutions of childhood, including paediatricians, have made it clear that in the use and abuse of technology we are risking the health of the youngest population; now that we are at the beginning of a new legislature it would be time to articulate a State pact so that all educational administrations unanimously approve prohibiting the use of mobile phones in schools.
In this way, the president of the Spanish Data Protection Agency (AEPD), Mar España, has claimed today the need for public administrations to articulate specific measures to prevent, detect and treat the problematic use of technologies, starting by restricting their use. use in and from educational centers.
"At the Agency we are aware of how the inappropriate and excessive use of the Internet by minors has very serious consequences on the development of their personality, leading to cases of addictions, sexting or cyberbullying among others; and when complaints come to us to request the removal of sensitive images, the damage has already been done and, even if it is possible to remove them, the blow suffered by the family, and especially the minors, is difficult to repair," stressed the president of the AEPD during the presentation of the Family Digital Plan, the guide of recommendations for the responsible use of technologies at home prepared by the Spanish Association of Pediatrics (AEP).
After years warning of the risks of indiscriminate use of screens, pediatricians have chosen to bring together on one platform a series of proposals based on scientific evidence so that families can use the advantages of technology by reducing the risk for minors.
Because, although scientifically the abuse of screens has not yet been classified as an addiction, pediatricians assure that in consultations they have long detected that it is, and that prolonged use of digital media, greater than two hours, has an impact. on health at a physical, mental and social level.
"It is difficult for children, autonomously, to make good use of technology; that is why it is important that we, as parents, educate by example, supervise them, be available to them and establish limits," said the Dr. María Salmerón, coordinator of the Digital Health group of the AEP and author of the Digital Family Plan.
And these limits go, to begin with, with the time of use: zero minutes before the age of two, less than an hour between the ages of 2 and 5, and never more than two hours of digital leisure from that age onwards. But we must also limit the spaces of use. "Is it necessary for children to have their phones on at school, especially in the playground? Another thing is for teachers to propose using them at a specific time for a specific activity," said Salmerón, who as the president of the AEPD believes that an institutional and transversal debate on the use of mobile phones in schools is necessary.
In this regard, Mar España emphasizes that there are countries that have already banned screens in classrooms because research has shown that they contribute to a delay in reading and writing in the younger population and a reduction in IQ has been observed in recent decades.
Pediatricians point out that restrictions on the use of technology must also be mediated by age. "Screens affect neurodevelopment; a child under two years of age does not need it and it affects their health; and at all ages it causes problems with attention, sleep, eating and lack of physical activity," explained Dr. Salmerón.
"If at 9 years old a child receives a cell phone without control, he is going to watch porn, he is going to get hooked until the wee hours of the morning because the algorithms induce it, and that will not only affect his cognitive development but also his sexual health and emotional and their way of relating, and when we are aware of the effects that this is having on the generation of young people, it will probably be too late," emphasized the president of the AEPD.
Because, according to pediatricians, the younger the age and the more screen time, the greater the risk, especially if it is not supervised. "The child who consumes more technology has a greater risk of abuse, cyberbullying, viewing porn, engaging in risky behavior...", Salmerón summarized.
However, the great challenge for healthy use of technology, say pediatricians, is not so much to limit cell phones to certain ages but rather for parents to lead by example, and that is why the guide they have created is presented as a family plan. . "It offers the possibility of choosing between a series of proposals based on scientific recommendations to personalize the rules based on the role that each family wants technology to have in their home, and then you can download that personalized document to apply it, because before putting standards we have to see what limits we feel capable of complying with," explained the author of the Digital Family Plan.
"Children stay more with what we do than with what we say, so if parents do not start by being an example, we cannot educate our children," warned Guillermo Martín Carballo, vice president of Primary Care of the AEP, who considers This guide will also allow pediatricians to advise families during the consultation.
Now, it is of no use for families to follow these guidelines and control the use of screens at home so that their children do not develop addiction "if later at school, an eight-year-old child is forced to use and do homework." with the tablet, because then it will exceed the recommended two hours of use," warned Spain, to reiterate the need for a state pact so that educational authorities regulate and limit the use of technology in classrooms.
