“My daughter Azul got her first cell phone at age 12 and social media at age 15 because I firmly believed she was doing the right thing (by not allowing it beforehand). Her classmates called her “Virga,” a nickname she couldn’t shake throughout high school. Today, at the age of 21, he remembers the worst phase of his life.“.
Staring directly into the camera of the device that upsets her so much, Silvina Genjo tells the story of her own challenge raising children with screens in a video she uploaded to Instagram. Which he continued with his youngest son.
“Based on her experience, she gave her 9-year-old brother an old cell phone with only WhatsApp and YouTube Kids when he was 18. It broke at 4 months and we observed him crying and thrashing in his sleep. The pediatrician said I was having withdrawal symptoms. And there weren’t many hours when I was on my cell phone.
Silvina wants it to be “two testimonies,” she says, so that more fathers and mothers join the Parental Pact, an initiative born in Mendoza that proposes an agreement between adults to ban cell phones and cell phones Delay access to social networks for children under 12 or 16 years old.
The key is that if the constraint is collective, There would be no room for discrimination.
At the same time, on the other side of the world, in Australia, everyone under the age of 16 is allowed from this week forbidden (suspended) their social media accounts, Because if they don’t check their age, they won’t be able to use them anymore. It was a government decision, not Instagram or Tik Tok. In fact there will be some Sanctions for companies that do not comply with this in their apps.
Without official action at the state level, the city government now seems almost like a butterfly following the Australian ban encourages the debate to be shifted to the national level.
Clarion interviewed experts in parenting with screens to understand how it would be possible to reduce the time that children under 16 spend on the networks or if the problem is not a matter of time.
“Boys and girls spend a large part of their lives with devices, Taking them off is not a solution. A consensus must be reached: why and since when? how to beat the seduction of algorithms“says Marcela Czarny, director of Chicos.net.
He is one of the voices that called the Buenos Aires Ministry of Education to a table where the ground was prepared on Wednesday to emphasize the need Digital protection integrates the agenda of the Federal Council for Education.
“Argentina is not Australia. “Due to the economic conditions of our country, the mobile phone is often the only means for boys and girls to access technology, with its risks but also its opportunities,” he emphasizes.
However, companies believe they should be required to change the design of their platforms “so as not to harm those who do not yet have the maturity to handle them.” But he insists “Just take out your phone or networks like that, no.”
Progressive autonomy. Prudent use. Be part of the digital world of the little ones. These are the three concepts that Czarny proposes, although there are no specific public guidelines.
“Education is where you start Release your children little by little through. First you let them go into the corner until they are alone in the world, but with the means that they as a family were able to build into the subjectivity of these children. There is no need release not banned at all. Freedoms have to do with maturation,” he explains.
When it’s time for your first cell phone, online support follows. An example? “Tell them that you also want to be their followers on the networks. They need to participate in their digital activities from a young age. And if we offer them other offline entertainment options, they can choose when they don’t need them.”
“If you feel bad online, it’s not your fault”
“Our children surf social networks without any preparation or control,” he says Clarion Soledad Gutiérrez Eguía, author of the book Dear teenager, it’s not your fault.
The first obligation that responsible adults must have is inform -says the social communicator- because no one can protect themselves from something they don’t know. and then Explain to children the dangers behind screens“.
Furthermore, he emphasizes that it is necessary be a role model: “We can’t ask them to do anything we don’t do.” You have to let go of the cell phone a little“It also highlights the importance of teaching them that there are different perspectives.”
“When we look at something in real life, brain cells called mirror neurons are activated, which allow us to learn from the actions of others (I am reinforcing our own practice). When I play football and watch someone else play football, I learn strategies, plays and techniques that I can use later in my life. But when I look at things that I don’t do, it’s like a Action exercise“, he compares.
An Australian measure
At the expert table to advance the digital protection of children, two recent measures taken by the Buenos Aires government were recalled: the blocking of the Roblox gaming platform in schools and the regulation of mobile phone use in classrooms.
Neuroscientist Fabricio Ballarini presented data from school surveys showing a direct impact of excessive screen use on mental health.
“40% of young people show signs of cell phone addictionwith higher levels of anxiety, depression, sleep problems and lower creativity, especially in women. “In addition, students are increasing their time on social networks by an average of one hour per year, with consumption increasingly focused on short video platforms,” he explained.
Technology specialist Santiago Siri suggested avoiding this exclusively prohibitionist views: “Protection yes, ban no. Digital is real life for children too. The challenge is to accompany the platforms, educate them and demand responsibility.”
He also emphasized that ““Not all digital consumption is negative” and that many virtual environments “can have educational potential if there is adult mediation.”
At the meeting, the ministry also shared what it calls “an evidence-based diagnosis,” quoting Jonathan Haidt, the American social psychologist and author of the book Fearful generation: “Platforms based on attention-grabbing models are encouraging.” compulsive behavior in minorsmore pronounced between the ages of 11 and 14, a stage of particular socio-emotional vulnerability.”
All specialists mentioned more anxiety, irritability and attention problems. For this reason, they emphasized the importance of “restoring boundaries, routines and healthy digital habits at school and in the family.”
Among its “political commitments” that it plans to present to the Federal Council, where education leaders from all provinces meet, the Buenos Aires government included calling for more robust age verification mechanisms on platforms, promoting risk assessments based on whether they are games, networks, messaging services or AI tools, and updating and unifying action protocols for educational institutions and homes.
