The Gem school in Mataró (Maresme) has launched this year an alliance campaign with families to try to delay the delivery of the first smartphone "as much as possible." The majority of students already have it before finishing Primary School, at only 11 years old, and the objective for the coming years is that the relationship with mobile phones begins when they finish ESO, at 16 years old. The 'Desmovilízate' manifesto already has close to 300 adhesions and from the center they hope to notice "important changes" starting next year. The key, according to the families, is to find "the balance between usefulness and abuse" and get young people to have a critical look to "understand and classify" all the content that can reach them through social networks.
The campaign of the Gem school in Mataró is based on a similar experience to the Sadako school in Barcelona and, so far, it has been very well received by the entire educational community, also among the students. "There can be a lot of dependence on the cell phone, especially with social networks," warns Jaume V., a 6th grade student who, at 11 years old, is already used to using his cell phone.
Like him, other students warn that the mobile phone can be "dangerous" due to the large amount of content that can be accessed. This is the case of Gerard R. He is 12 years old, he is in 1st year of ESO and he is one of the only two children in the class who does not have a cell phone: "I would like to have one, but I understand that it is not possible. It is a very great tool."
All the students interviewed assure that they try to use it responsibly, in accordance with the 'pact' established with their families. Arlet F. is 11 years old and is in 6th grade. Despite having a cell phone at his age, she says that he uses it little: "I live far away and I use it to communicate with my parents."
They also talk about limits in their first relationship with the mobile phone. Bernat E., from 1st year of ESO, admits that perhaps at his age they are not "mature enough" to access certain tools. A classmate, Laia M., explains that she agreed with the family to be able to have a cell phone but no TikTok or Instagram. "I only have the necessary apps," she says.
As far as school is concerned, the use of mobile phones is completely prohibited. The students deliver them upon arrival to the classroom and they remain under guard until they go home, when the teachers return them. The school director, Montse Paredada, explains that this way they are helped in "self-control of their cell phones when they don't need it."
The situation, Paredada admits, is complex because it goes beyond school. In this sense, the director reports a situation of "pressure", both on the part of the students, who do not want to be left behind with respect to their classmates who already have a mobile phone, and on the part of the families, who at the current time do not want to be disconnected from their children.
Through the 'Desmovilízate' campaign we want, precisely, to give families tools to manage this situation and promote changes that must be on a "global" scale to prevent young boys and girls from continuing to access applications and content that " are not appropriate due to their age of maturity.
"We are halfway between the need and the abuse of technology," explains Xadi Lara, father of two students in 4th year of ESO and 6th year of Primary school at the Gem school in Mataró. Although he is already late - his two children already have a cell phone - Lara welcomes the problem being addressed from the community: "When they tell you that all their friends have a cell phone, it is very difficult to fight."
Montserrat Marquet, mother of a 6th grade girl from the same center, is in the same situation. Her daughter still doesn't have a cell phone, but at home they already have it approved for the next course: "The idea of doing it together is more enriching because now you can't deny her either and she's the only one who is different."
Aware that next year she will have to live with this, Marquet has already started talking to her daughter about the dangers of mobile phones: "I am worried that she has open access to any content without any control and that she cannot understand or classify what she is seeing." , like 'fake news', and we are already working on it."
