The use of smartphones among minors is debated. The correspondents’ club leaves for Spain and China where the two countries are considering measures to regulate its use.
Parents are concerned about the time their youngest spend on their phones or on the internet. Some countries are taking measures to regulate this use. In China, the government is introducing cell phone blocking for minors at night, from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. In Spain, parents are campaigning for young people not to have cell phones before the age of 16.
In China, 24 million young people considered internet addicts
The Chinese government is implementing very strong measures, among the strictest in the world. This summer, the Chinese Cyberspace Administration presented a project that risks truly changing the lives of young Chinese, with a first radical measure: the blocking of cell phones for minors from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. It is therefore impossible to connect at night, secretly in bed. And that’s not all: depending on age, the daily connection time will be limited to 40 minutes for children under 8 years old, a maximum hour for 8-16 year olds and 2 hours for 16-18 year olds. .
These constraints will be implemented thanks to a minor mode that parents can activate on the phone. We do not yet know if manufacturers will be forced to use this new function. In any case, once the service is launched, the child will find themselves in a totally constrained world. Only parents will be able to deactivate minor mode, using a secret code or a fingerprint. Note that certain services will be completely excluded by these restrictions, emergency calls, but also educational applications that young Chinese people will be able to consult without limits.
According to an official 2021 report, 24 million young Chinese are considered internet addicts. A proactive policy to protect minors. Even if it means very seriously slowing down the development of the Chinese giants of new technologies, who see this juicy youth market partially slipping away from them.
In Spain, a free cell phone for children to enter college
In Spain, parents are organizing to raise the age of purchasing their first smartphone. It is an initiative that was born at the start of the school year in Barcelona and is gaining momentum throughout Spain. Parents of students have come together to denounce the use of cell phones among young people. In general, children receive their first phone when they start middle school, which starts a year later than in France. The children are therefore 12 years old and it has become the usual gift.
Elisabet Garcia has three children. Her eldest will soon be 12 and she doesn’t want to give him a cell phone. This Catalan woman is at the origin of an anti-cellphone movement in Spain. She created a parent group via Telegram which brings together thousands of families. On the forums, parents say they are distraught. They talk about the risks of exposure to sensitive content, dependence on social networks, online harassment, in short, all the dangers that cell phones pose for the mental and emotional health of young people. These parents would like young people not to have a cell phone before the age of 16. “We have banned alcohol and tobacco for minors”these parents say.
The movement is gaining momentum, the public authorities are taken by surprise. Politicians are therefore trying to tackle the problem. The subject was on the agenda this Wednesday morning in the Parliament of Catalonia. We are thinking about better framing of the telephone.