A panel of pediatricians and child psychologists was skeptical about the effectiveness of the ban on the use of mobile phones in schools, given that many already exist and are ineffective (thus, access to WhatsApp or Instagram is prohibited by the platforms themselves to those under 16 years of age).
There is no magic solution to limit the abuse of mobile phones among children and adolescents, but guidelines and guidelines that require, above all, the active involvement of parents. This is clear from the interventions of the four speakers at the colloquium “Mobiles and networks: a risk to the health of children and adolescents”, organized by the Barcelona College of Physicians and moderated by the RAC1 journalist Jordi Basté.
The panel accepted that society has a problem. And they disapprove of the fact that one in four children under 10 years of age have a mobile phone, although they were opposed to setting legislative restrictions based on age, because they understand that they are useless if there is no accompaniment of regulations by parents. “We leave children in the hands of the market (of the big technology companies. And we have to help them think if they are selling them a motorcycle,” lamented the psychologist and educator Jaume Funes. A market that tries to retain the youngest because they will be the customers of tomorrow.
Nor can schools solve the problem based on restrictions, although for some panelists they would be a measure to consider. “In many countries, mobile phones are already prohibited in classrooms, like France now, but before Israel, La Rioja in 2014, Madrid last year…”, said pediatrician Iolanda Jordan, from the Hospital de Sant Joan de Deu in Barcelona.
“The important thing is to do ‘selective prevention’. Not all children and adolescents have problems due to mobile phones. Yes, you have to be vigilant to those children who have obsessive tendencies, difficulties in social skills…”. Concrete measures? “I am a fan of common sense –said the psychologist Josep Matalí-: digital accompaniment of the parents, detecting the symptoms of dysfunctions in use… And trusting a lot in the intuition of the parents”.
