“The institutions most representative of childhood, including paediatricians, have made it clear that in the use and abuse of technology the health of the younger population is at stake, now that we are at the beginning of a serious legislature the moment to articulate a State pact so that all educational administrations unanimously approve the banning of mobile phones in schools”, said yesterday the president of the Spanish Data Protection Agency (AEPD), Mar España, taking advantage of the presentation of the family digital plan, the guide of recommendations for the responsible use of technologies at home that has been prepared by the Spanish Association of Paediatrics (AEP).
“At the Agency we are aware of how the inappropriate and excessive use of the internet by minors has very serious consequences on the development of their personality, reaching cases of addiction, sexting or cyberbullying among others, and when we complaints reach us, the damage is already done and, even if it is possible to remove the images or the information, the blow suffered by the family, and especially the minors, is difficult to repair”, stressed España.
Pediatricians, after years of warning about the risks of the indiscriminate use of screens by children and teenagers, have now created a platform with proposals based on scientific evidence to make it easier for families to regulate their use at home. Because, although scientifically the abuse of screens has not yet been classified as an addiction, pediatricians are clear that it is and that a prolonged use time of more than two hours has an impact on health in physical areas , mental and social, in the form of changes in sleep and eating, eye health, increased risk of depression and less social interaction.
“It is difficult for children, independently, to make good use of technology; that’s why it’s important that we, as parents, educate by example, supervise them, be available for them and set limits,” said Dr. María Salmerón, coordinator of the AEP’s digital health group.
These limits should set, at the outset, the time of use: zero minutes before the age of two, less than one hour between the ages of 2 and 5, and in no case more than two hours of digital leisure after of this age But it is also necessary to limit the spaces of use. “Is it necessary for children to have their phones on at school, especially in the playground? Another thing is for the teachers to propose using them for a specific activity”, pointed out Salmerón.
In this sense, the president of the AEPD reiterated the need for administrations to apply concrete measures to prevent, detect and treat the problematic use of technologies because, she said, it is of no use for families to control the use of the screens at home “if later at school they force children under the age of 18 to use the tablet in class and do their homework, because they will exceed the recommended two hours of use”.
