Plates, napkin, cutlery and mobile. The telephone has been part of the usual utensils at lunchtime for years. A topic that usually generates many debates about whether or not it is a lack of education or the problems it entails for communication between diners. But what happens when there are children at the table? The screens are a common resource to ensure that they are calm at the table, especially when eating out. Something that has set off the alarms of many experts and even of a restaurant that has proposed to offer alternatives.
A Galician restaurant recently made headlines for including in its booking conditions that children under 12 are welcome, but they cannot leave the table during the meal.
Beyond the legality of this rule, surely many parents would respond with another question. And how do you get a child to endure a long meal without leaving the table? The answer in many families is the mobile. Screen, drawings and done. Any father or mother knows that it works, and surely they also sense that it is not a good idea.
“We don’t know the effects very well, but we see how mobile phones change the way adults and adolescents relate to each other, they modify the biology of the brain because we have a device that gives us reinforcement and immediate gratification,” explains Ãurea Moreno, a clinical psychologist.
Alarmism? In reality, what Moreno explains is almost the softest version of the message that many experts send. Michel Desmugret, director of research at the National Institute of Health and Medical Research in France, even talks about a loss of IQ in children derived from the use of mobile phones at the table during meals.
This is how he explains it in his latest book The Digital Cretin Factory. The danger of screens for our children. Indeed, the title does not leave much room for interpretation regarding the content and conclusions.
Although it remains to be seen what the specific effects are, there seems to be a scientific consensus on how hyperstimulation of children through screens represents a potential danger.
This is highlighted by the Manifesto on the use of screens to promote healthy development in early childhood, signed last year by more than fifty professionals and entities related to education and science, and which indicates harmful effects on brain development. , health and physical development and mental health.
But our generation also grew up with the television screen. That is usually a recurring reflection of mothers and fathers in the face of this avalanche of evidence and the inevitable feeling of guilt if they use the mobile to entertain the child for a while.
“Television had certain times and limits. Mobile is unlimited. It is not that you have some drawings, it is that you have many and at any time. Parents have to exercise control over this entire world that is so available and within the reach of children, â€says Ãurea Moreno, who also avoids the discourse of blaming parents. “These new realities are complex, and our parents didn’t have to deal with them,†she recalls.
This picture of the child looking at the mobile at the restaurant table is what made Issac Aliaga, one of the founders of Can Pizza, launch a book to “promote digital detoxification and didactic entertainment when visiting his restaurants”. .
She has three children, she tells us, so there’s no need to ask how she got the idea. “The table has to be a moment to share and talk,” she claims while reviewing some of the hobbies and games that the book proposes. Illustrated by Amaia Arrazola, he confesses that many of the proposals occurred precisely to his children.
Boring me, that’s the title of the book, it has just been presented and, in addition to being sold for about 10 euros in the restaurants themselves, Aliaga explains that his idea is to distribute photocopies of some of the pages so that the little ones can entertain themselves. At the moment, when sitting at Can Pizza with a child at the table, in addition to some olives courtesy of the house, a can of paints and some sheets of paper to draw arrive. It is clear that childphobia is not part of the menu here.
The idea of ​​this well-known pizzeria is as simple as, curiously, a pioneer in the sector. “We participated in a talk about digitization and the metaverse with large hospitality companies and I am going to tell them about this book, let’s see what happens,†Aliaga jokes.
In the end, these hobbies are an alternative to the popular screen. That is what it is all about, thinking about more resources -says Moreno- so that the mobile does not become the only option. “We can take some pencils, a story, think about what he likes to endure the wait,†she explains.
Even assuming that the less the better, it would be necessary to distinguish between those moments of waiting and the food itself. Using the screen as a distraction while practically being fed up is a very bad idea, the psychologist warns.
“If we put up a screen, what we do is disconnect him from what is happening around food, which is much more than eating. In addition to the relationships that are established at the table, it is also important to be aware of what you eat, if you like it, if you are more hungry… â€, she points out.
In any case, it doesn’t hurt to vindicate boredom either. “It is something that must happen to us, creativity is born out of boredom. If I have everything or when I’m bored they give me pre-made things, my brain is going to wait for that to happen instead of creating new thingsâ€, he explains.
