Sunday, January 19, 2025

January 14, 2025

How The World Is Dealing With Children’s Screentime

Not since the invention of the television has there been so much discussion about the effects of technology on our kids.

[Image: Pexels]

Not since the invention of the television has there been so much discussion about the effects of technology on our kids. Since the first child glued themselves to the screen, parents across the globe have come to love and loathe the surrogate babysitter, and as far as we know, there have been zero cases of children with square eyes or cartoon-induced brain rot.

We’ve barely come to terms with the television before another technological boogieman reared its digital head – mobile phones. Sure they are great for staying in touch with your child, but the little devices have become so popular so quickly, that any potential dangers associated with a child owning a mobile phone have only become apparent after they’ve become almost indispensable.

As concerns over phone use grow – and the age at which children get their first mobile continues to fall – countries around the world are weighing up how to tackle the issue in schools and at home. Nobody has found a perfect solution yet, so the approach to dealing with this universal issue has carried greatly.

Some focus on legislation to dictate the appropriate age for a phone, and others have outright banned the devices for certain age groups. Here in South Africa we still have a pretty much free-for-all attitude, but perhaps that will bite us in the rear once Gen Beta grows up. Let’s see.

So, what’s to be done? The answer might be unclear, but other countries are not waiting to find out, and have implemented their own ideas on how to keep the young ‘uns from picking up a bad habit too early.

Australia

Australia made global headlines in November when its parliament passed a law to ban under-16s from social media. But much of how it will work, and which services it will apply to, remains unclear.

While some states in Australia ban the use of mobile phones in school, the federal government’s new ban will restrict children under 16 from social media entirely by the end of this year. The legislation will empower the communications minister to determine which platforms will be restricted, but it is widely expected it will at least apply to Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook and TikTok.

YouTube is expected to be exempt on the grounds of the educational benefits it claims to offer.

The legislation places responsibility for checking ages on the platforms, and states they must take “reasonable steps” to check ages or otherwise face fines of A$50m (R577 million). A trial of verifying technology is underway, but it is believed the final version could include the use of facial age estimation, account behavioural checking to determine ages, and potentially the use of existing authentication services.

Spain

Spain’s coalition government is planning legislation to raise the minimum age for creating a social media account from 14 to 16, as well as requiring digital companies to deploy age-verification systems. It also suggests that parental controls be enabled by default on cellphones and that a nationwide education campaign be launched to assist children and teens in navigating social media.

“Each year you can delay giving a phone is a big win because more than 72% of Spanish children have a smartphone by the age of 12.”

An expert committee recently urged the government to explore including a warning label on digital devices sold in Spain to notify customers about the health dangers associated with social media and digital gadgets.

France

The French president, Emmanuel Macron, commissioned a report into the issue, saying the country needed to “take back control of our screens”, which were closing children in on themselves rather than liberating them. Macron said “the future of our society and democracy” depended on a sensible approach.

The report, presented last April, said children should not be allowed to use smartphones until they are 13 and should be banned from accessing conventional social media such as TikTok, Instagram and Snapchat until they are 18. No child should have a phone before age 11, it said, and they should only have a handset without access to the internet before 13.

The experts said children needed to be protected from the tech industry’s profit-driven strategies, adding that screens had a negative impact on children’s eyesight, sleep, metabolism, physical health and concentration.

Italy

The use of smartphones and tablets in Italian classrooms in primary, elementary and lower secondary schools was banned completely from September last year, even for teaching purposes.

The education minister, Giuseppe Valditara, said a decision had been taken for educational ­reasons but also because of the tension the devices had provoked between students and teachers – including cases of teachers being hit with phones in response to a reprimand.

Valditara has also supported a petition calling for children under the age of 14 to be banned from owning a mobile phone and for under-16s to be prevented from having profiles on social media.

Germany

Although German schools cannot bar pupils from bringing in mobile phones, they can ban pupils from using them in the classroom or during break times.

Teachers routinely exercise the right to confiscate phones deemed to be a problem on a case-by-case basis, but experts note the legal footing for this is shaky. Some educators have embraced devices as part of teaching and encouraged efforts to build digital literacy among young people, including encouraging them to set limits on screen time for their well-being.

Young brains were too vulnerable to be exposed to social media “influencers” in particular, with doctors reporting their practices are full of young internet users who had begun to develop psychological problems such as chronic anxiety.

However, some political officials have called for mobile phones to be banished entirely from elementary schools, citing negative effects on learning and physical health.

Perhaps the answer lies in a mix of the above, but as a parent of a digital child, it’s clear that outright banning the device is impossible. Still, there is no reason for an 11-year-old who never leaves home without adult supervision to own a mobile phone. If the kid wants to call his homies, he can use my phone.

[Source: The Guardian]

fitnish-media-EOA7GvqM1Vs-unsplash-scaled.jpg

2ov Radio

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit.