At what age should children get their first cell phone? This is the question that has been put on the table again after a group of mothers and fathers from the Poblenou neighborhood (Barcelona) have created a WhatsApp group to try to stop the "normalization" of buying a smartphone at the age of 12 , coinciding with the start of high school, and postponing it until the 16th.
Almost 70% of minors of this age already have a mobile phone, according to the National Institute of Statistics. Specifically, 47.5% of 10- and 11-year-old children in Barcelona have a mobile phone, and three out of four admit problems in stopping using it (Institute of Childhood and Adolescence, 2021).
The initiative was born from the concern of a mother with three daughters in primary school, after talking to other families who had decided to give their children a mobile phone due to "social pressure" or, what is the same thing, to prevent them from being "the pelacanyes of the class".
In just one month, this group called Poblenou, mobile-free adolescence has reached the limit of the platform, with 1,024 members. For this reason, the families have opened another group on Telegram, and invite more people to join. It has generated so much interest that it is spreading throughout Catalonia.
The various associations of families of students (AFA) in the neighborhood met last Wednesday in person to establish an agenda "that goes from the local level to the regulator". "We believe that it is from the local level from where we can make this force, but with a shared agenda", explains Xavier Casanoves, one of the spokespersons.
The conversations have been crossing neighborhoods and Gràcia's parents have been contacted. Without going any further, the AFA coordinator of this neighborhood published a little more than a week ago the survey Minors and the use of mobile phones and social networks to promote a collective debate and get the opinion of families . More than a thousand parents have already responded, and more are expected. Although there are still no definitive results, Marta Hernández, member of the Gràcia AFA coordinator, has shared with La Vanguardia that, at the moment, 70% of respondents are in favor of delaying the mobile until 16 , as recommended by the EU. "Only 10% believe that at this age it is 'too late'".
Like the Poblenou mother, Marta Hernández, with two daughters in primary school, she saw with concern the age of access to the first mobile phone. A few months ago he decided to contact the clinical psychologist Francisco Villar, a supporter of delaying the age, so that he could go and give a talk at the center and, at the same time, he learned about the Sadako charter school project. The center asked parents if they wanted to hand over cell phones to their children and if they did it so early because of social pressure. "Now they have a first year ESO class without cell phones."
Hernández wants to make it clear that "they have nothing against technologies", but against "misuse" when "you are a child and you don't know how to use them". "We are looking for the best age for our children to use a tool that is good and that, in fact, is helping us to network between parents", he expresses. And adds Xavier Casanoves, from Poblenou: "We have to understand that our children don't need a mobile phone to socialise, because they already have many spaces to do so, such as school, sport, music, etc".
A Caritas study last year revealed that 36.7% of teenagers between 12 and 17 spend more than six hours a day, while one in five is at risk of addiction.
"We want families to ask themselves if it is really necessary for their child to have a mobile phone at the age of 12 or 13 and, if so, why they do it", explains Casanoves. "There is a kind of silent majority that does not want to give mobile phones to their children, but due to pressure they end up falling." In order to have more arguments, this initiative aims to empower families with proposals such as the signing of a social commitment document. "We are proposing this document so that families commit not to buy a mobile phone for their child when ESO starts", he says.
Parents say that if it's about having a cell phone to keep them under control, there are other ways to communicate with their children. Both the Poblenou and Gràcia AFAs are optimistic about reaching a consensus. "In the same way that driving, smoking and drinking among minors have historically been regulated, I think that in a few years, seeing a 12 or 13-year-old child with a mobile phone in his hand will seem like an aberration", concludes Casanoves.
