While Emmanuel Macron proposes to ban children under 15 years of social networks throughout the European Union, a recent study in Australia shows that moderation, not prohibition, is the key. And the voices of experts in psychology, education and culture confirm it: the problem is not the technology itself, but the way we integrate it.
According to a Mission Australia research, quoted by The Guardian, teenagers who spend between 1 and 3 hours a day on social networks report a better well -being than those who completely avoid them. They ask for their help as often, they socialize more easily and have an increased sense of control over their own lives.
In contrast, intensive users (over 3 hours/day) have higher levels of loneliness, anxiety and psychological distress, especially among diverse gender people. The conclusion of the Orygen organization, involved in the study, is clear: not the online time is the problem, but the lack of conscious and moderate use.
Macron wants an age limit for online access
Against the background of a serious incident, killing a 14-year-old supervisor in a school in France, Emmanuel Macron demands the prohibition of social networks for children under 15 years in all EU Member States. “We can’t waste more time”said the French president, according to Politico, adding that age verification technology already exists, including by facial recognition. If the European Union does not adopt a common regulation, France will introduce its own law.
While Europe goes to restrictions, Australia proposes digital literacy and educational support. Paradoxically, however, the Australian government will also require, from December 2025, an age limit: access to platforms such as Tiktok, Instagram or Snapchat will be banned under 16, in parallel with the implementation of a technical verification system.
Do we better protect teenagers through prohibition or education?
“Social networks can be used as a form of entertainment among other forms of entertainment. They will not be a substitute for the real interaction between people, they will not take place as a social group from which the adolescent, the man, to develop social skills and to integrate. They are harmful when they come to provide a substitute for real emotional and relational needs, they only increase the degree of emotional and social deprivation”, The psychologist Adrian Socol declares for the truth.
For his part, Dr. Cristina Elena Petre points out that a total technology break can affect the social adaptation of children. “We live in a society where technology is part of everyday life. Therefore, to completely stop the contact of children with technology, even if it comes in the form of social networks, it can make their adaptation to the current context.“She explains.
According to him, there is also a positive part of online games or socialization in the digital environment. “For example, in the cabinet, I noticed that now, the children have better developed the perceptual (non-verbal) reasoning, even the fine motility. Indeed, it is not a problem to eliminate access to technology, but to moderate interaction with it”, Completes this.
Until the age of two, Dr. Cristina Elena Petre recommends the complete exclusion of the screens. Subsequently, the time spent online should be limited, and the emphasis on transposing socialization from online into real life, as well as offering attractive offline alternatives, so that the digital part will remain a hobby, not an addiction.
Music and cultural education, in competition with the algorithm
Tiberiu Dragoș Oprea, conductor and artistic founder of the Pitești Philharmonic, observes dramatic changes in the reaction of the young public. The artist warns that, without involvement from the family, the school and the state, “The children will grow with the impression that everything is right for them, and the real discernment will be missing.”
“In the 30 years of professional activity, I can say that I have developed with the technological evolution and I see in real time the harmful effect on the most vulnerable age categories, children and adolescents. Educational concerts for the young public have conceived and supported from the first year by the existence of the Pitesti Philharmonic and at the same time in the country, and the difference in attention, interest and enthusiasm is overwhelming to the detriment of the generations in recent years that grow with the lack of interest and patience on anything, because they have said everything at a distance,”, Says Tiberiu Dragoș Oprea.
Education, not the illusion of control
Or a story, he adds, be it musical, has an epic thread, a duration until the denouement is reached, which is similar to satisfaction. “Compared to shorts on social networks don’t come immediately, in a few seconds”, The conductor continues.
In his opinion, 20 years ago the degree of tolerance, patience, interest and curiosity were in the area of yield of reactions that crowned a personal development that then included the ability to analyze-synthesis, analogy and especially creativity and emotional intelligence.
“Today, however, they are agitated, you can hardly capture their attention by giving them a simple context in which they can discover an unlimited universe that, however, they no longer have the ability to access because their creative senses are altered, anesthetized, passed in the back However, they succeed in the negative performance of “staying stuck” in front of the screens, slowing time to the stimulus requirement and at the same time chaotic and even aggressive reaction when they are removed from their “world”. Their ability to interact constructively, language is limited to stereotypes that propagate through these networks”, Adorns Tiberiu Dagoș Oprea.
Unfortunately, says the artist, and most of the adults reach the same type of behaviors and reactions. This, observes from the daily work with people and the quality of a teacher he owns for more than 20 years. “I put these two Before and after realities in the mirror the development of these technologies. Of course, the beneficial implications of the evolution and revolution do not deny them or want them canceled. However, the reality is that, and now I speak from the position of parent, without control and involvement from the family, of the educational environment, even of the legislative framework, the limitation and censorship of access on the social media platforms to an age at which to allow the young man to discernment, with all the books of education and development on the table, for a health, for a health,. ”
Prohibitions can give the illusion of control. But without digital education, without conscious presence of adults and without real offline alternatives, adolescents will look for a form of connection, with or without approval. And then, do we want to ban their instruments or teach them how to use them?
