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It is undeniable that social media have played – and continue to play – an increasingly central role in our lives, in our communication strategies and in the way we relate to others in both the digital and offline worlds. As many as 59% of people in the European Union today actively participate in social media, e.g. by creating a profile and posting messages or pictures (Eurostat data). This ranges from peaks of 91% of the population in Denmark, followed by Cyprus with 83% and Hungary with 81%, to the lowest percentages with France at 44%, preceded by Germany at 49% and Italy at 53%. It is precisely this enormous permeability of social media within European society that has inspired the very interesting panel within the European Congress on Family, during the ECR Party Culture Weekend to be held in Dubrovnik, Croatia, from 18 to 20 October. The title of the meeting immediately emphasises the importance of regulating and limiting – especially within the family – the abuse of these communication tools: “Offline, Reconnecting the Family: Social media, regulating the addiction of the century”.
RULES AND LIMITATIONS
To speak of social media as the “addiction of the century” may seem an exaggeration. However, if one thinks of the spread they have within all strata of our society – regardless of social background or age -, of the health studies that have been inspired by these tools, and of the attempts (more or less crude and effective) to regulate them, it is easy to understand how this expression is anything but exaggerated. At the European level, in fact, through the European Regulation (GDPR), a minimum age of registration for these platforms is set at 16. In spite of this, some Member states have wanted to maintain autonomy in these decisions, reducing the limit to citizens younger than 13.
THE HEALTH OF THE YOUNGEST
It is above all the involvement in the world of social media of the youngest, within and outside the family environment, that is at the centre of the debate. Suffice it to say that in 2022 the WHO conducted a study – the report “Health behaviour in scholl-aged children” – that highlighted how one in ten adolescents, i.e. approximately 11% of the European target population, with higher levels in females than males (13% vs. 9%), showed signs of dangerous or problematic behaviour on social media. This figure is rising sharply, especially when compared to the equivalent figure provided by the WHO for 2018, which stood at 7%. A problematic use of social media takes the form of behaviour displaying symptoms similar to addiction: from the inability to control the use of social media, to abstinence when deprived of it, through the abandonment of daily activities in favour of the compulsive use of platforms. A phenomenon that, as also recalled by the WHO, raises many concerns about the impact that this and other technologies (just think of the advent of AI) may have on the mental health and well-being of young people.
DISCONNECTION AND DIGITAL LITERACY
Attention, especially in the family and friendship sphere, is certainly important, and the family plays a key role in the “disconnection” of youngsters. Attention to other policies, however, cannot be lacking, such as those related to the school environment, which must promote and teach healthy digital literacy also by encouraging conversations on digital well-being that can go beyond the confines of the classroom, and spill over, as vectors of critical awareness, even within the walls of the home. At the same time, access to mental health services must be facilitated, which, like schools, must contain staff trained and able to interface with these new forms of addiction. Therefore, training as well as digital and computer literacy must also progress on these two levels: the one aimed at the functionality of the tools (and thus at users, with a greater focus on young people) and the other that looks at operators in the sector, who must be trained to understand the criticalities, to the point of foreseeing possible distortions in the use of these tools.