Since the school year started in September, alarm over the use that minors make of their cell phones has led hundreds of families to organize to demand that their use be limited in schools;
to new autonomous communities to regulate the use and allow it only for pedagogical purposes in the centers, and to the Government to create a group of 50 experts to analyze the damage and create a document that serves as the basis for a new comprehensive law for the protection of minors. in the
online
environment .
The chain of reactions to the growing mental health problems or harassment among peers due to the unlimited use of social networks and the viewing of inappropriate content has led two teachers to present more than 76,000 signatures in the Congress of Deputies for a total ban of mobile phones to minors under 16 years of age.
“Ban in a democracy?
Yes, I am not ashamed to defend it,” says Ángela Sánchez-Pérez (48 years old), one of the teachers who have collected the signatures through the Change.org platform, who this Tuesday met with deputies from five parliamentary groups. to present the proposal to them.
This primary school teacher, who has been working in public schools in the Community of Madrid for 17 years, describes in a very graphic way the damage that carrying a mobile phone with them 24 hours a day means for a minor.
One of her sixth grade students showed her a video in which they saw how two of a dog's legs were amputated and how it started to walk with only the other two legs.
“He told me with a laugh that that was knowing how to maintain balance.
I almost got dizzy when I saw him, but he, like many his age, has gotten used to it... Then we are surprised by the attacks of children on parents or group rapes," reflects the teacher, who since uploading the petition to the Internet has received hundreds of
e-mails
with specific cases reported by other teachers, counselors, pedagogues and even agents from local police stations.
Also testimonies like that of Marta Bentura: “I have a 13-year-old son without a cell phone and he is the only one in his class who doesn't have one.
Still, he is very addicted to screens as soon as you neglect him.
His addiction began when he was given an iPad at school to study at the age of 10.
It was a before and after (for the worse).”
In the petition, which they registered in Congress on November 5 - as they have not yet obtained 500,000 signatures, they have not been able to register it as a Popular Legislative Initiative -, they point out as a compelling reason to set the ban until 16, which is the age at which completes compulsory secondary education.
According to experts, at that time a maturational change occurs within the adolescent stage.
Furthermore, they consider that the ban should not be limited only to educational centers - in some regions, such as Galicia, the use has been limited since 2015 - but should be "total."
In Spain, according to the latest data from the National Statistics Institute (INE), seven out of every 10 minors between 10 and 15 years old have a mobile phone.
The age of first access is already seven years old and the Internet is used by 95.1% of schoolchildren who are between 10 and 15 years old.
The other promoter of the proposal, Natalia Jiménez (47 years old), is also a secondary school teacher in a center in Barcelona.
"Specialists tell us about addiction, an increase in suicide attempts, early access to porn or lack of concentration in the classroom... this is beginning to be a public health problem and that is why we ask for the intervention of the State, equally "What happened with the prohibition of alcohol consumption by minors," he explains.
In recent years—he has been teaching for almost 20 years—he has seen for the first time a growing inability to concentrate on the part of students, who need “very short instructions,” and, if they don't have them, “they disconnect very quickly.”
UNESCO's GEM 2023 report establishes that the average time it takes a student to regain attention after receiving a notification is around 20 minutes.
“We see that they do not understand the statements of the activities or the exam exercises because they do not read them until the end, they do not understand the importance of reading the instructions.
Added to that is that they arrive to class very tired because they go to bed with their cell phones, and bullying through private chat channels or social networks has skyrocketed,” she says.
Both teachers, who believe that “the worst thing” happens when children are out of school, have seen that children know from an early age how to bypass parental control applications and, in the case of Madrid, even the firewall program. installed by the counseling on the centers' computers and tablets.
On this issue, the OCU warned last week of the “lack of obstacles” that are allowing minors to uninstall these tools from their mobile phones, especially those designed for devices with the iOS operating system (from Apple), as they were able to verify in an analysis of the 10
most downloaded parental control
apps in Spain.
According to the latest UNESCO GEM report, since 2010 the daily time that adolescents spend online in Spain, France and Italy has doubled: those between 15 and 16 years old spend two and a half hours, while those between 12 and 12 and 14 years old spend three hours and 12 minutes.
“A review of 89 studies on screens in different countries suggests that primary school students are the most affected by this increase, and it has been seen that it negatively affects eating, sleep, mental and ocular health,” says Laura Stipanovic. , UNESCO expert.
The document indicates that consumption of more than two hours a day is related to the appearance of depressive symptoms, worse academic performance, and greater sedentary lifestyle.
For the lawyer specialized in digital law Borja Adsuara, the ban is not the solution.
"A parallel cannot be made with the sale of alcohol or tobacco until the age of 18, in this case what is addictive is not the cell phone, but social networks, the problem is not the device itself, and by prohibiting it we are assuming that "it cannot be put to good use," he explains.
An alternative would be, according to this expert, to modify the Spanish data protection regulations and raise the age from 14 to 16 so that a minor can provide their data for an
online
service without the consent of their parents - except for content with their own regulation, such as electronic gaming or watching porn, where the minimum age is 18 years.
This currently allows a minor under 14 years of age to access and register on social networks.
The European data protection regulation allows each state to set the minimum between 13 and 16 years of age.
Parliamentary groups, opposed to the ban
For the Education spokesperson of the socialist group in the Luz Congress, Martínez Seijo – one of the deputies who, together with the PP, Vox, EH Bildu and Junts, received the teacher on Tuesday – the fact of prohibiting the possession and use of mobile phones to minors under 16 years of age would mean “exceeding the function of the State”, since “the constitutional framework contemplates the power of parents to choose how to educate their children.”
“Alcohol is prohibited up to the age of 18 because it is considered harmful, but the scientific evidence on the effects of technology on the health of minors is still too green to take that step,” she says.
“We must study the harmful use and addiction generated by mobile phones, but we cannot close the doors to technological advances.
Furthermore, if we prohibit it, they can always use their parents' cell phone or home computer.
It is families who have to promote responsible use.”
From the PP, they are not in favor of prohibiting either.
“We must educate them and make them co-responsible, prevention gives better results… we have to make families aware of the risks that technology poses for their children, we have an important job there,” says Noelia Núñez, deputy secretary of Mobilization and Digital Challenge. of the party.
For EH Bildu deputy Isabel Pozueta, the penal code cannot be the answer to society's new challenges.
“Such a punitive measure is not going to solve the problem, what are we going to do, put police on the street and report and fine the families?
Let's go for more education and awareness.”
Pozueta, who assures that her party does not have a specific position on the matter, considers that it is a reality “that has many aspects”;
among them, the lack of conciliation.
“Just as television was the caretaker of many minors while their parents worked, now these new screens are... there are many adults who are digitally illiterate and need training,” she says.
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