Completely ban screens and digital platforms for children under three years of age and allow the use of social media by those under 13 years of age only for a limited time and under the strict supervision of an adult. This is the epochal turning point that the EU is facing. The European Commission is working on a proposal that aims to introduce stricter age limits on the use of social media. This proposal will be presented to the Member States immediately after the summer. The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, issued a very clear warning and stated clearly that «social media is not a toy» adding that «the status quo, a world in which we continue to allow big tech companies unfettered access to our children, will only condemn another generation to further mental harm, addiction and misery».
The EU plan and the stop on social media: the new rules under 13 years of age
The plan includes a gradual approach by age groups. Under three years of age, there should be a total stop to screens. Between the ages of three and 13 the partial concession would come into force under the control of parents or teachers. From 13 years of age onwards, however, autonomous but progressive access will be evaluated, which will strictly depend on the real evidence that social networks are able to provide on their actual level of security. The experts on the scientific committee, including Dr. Maria Melcior and Professor Jörg Fegert, pointed the finger at what they defined in their document as “social media+”. With this term, scholars define those platforms equipped with age-inappropriate features and specifically designed to capture attention in an aggressive way, such as infinite scrolling (the mechanism that allows you to scroll through content without ever reaching an end), automatic video playback and continuous notifications that create a constant state of alert.
The EU’s objective is to harmonize the rules at community level, introducing a clear age limit for access to these systems, but above all reversing the responsibility. To date, the burden of security has fallen almost entirely on the shoulders of individual users and parents. The proposed shift is based on the legal and moral obligation for technology companies to ensure that their virtual spaces are secure at source. Just as a car company must design safe vehicles equipped with airbags and seat belts, without expecting parents to install them themselves, in the same way the tech giants must take responsibility for the safety of their products.
Why Von Der Leyen wants to limit them: more and more young people addicted to social media
The scientific data collected by the Special Group on the Safety of Children Online are clear and sobering: young people spend on average between four and six hours a day in front of a screen, and almost 60% of younger children have already experienced emotional or psychosocial problems attributable to the virtual world in which they spend more and more time. The focus of the debate, as underlined by EU leaders, is not whether or not children should use technology, but to establish «if and when social media will be able to access our children», to quote the President of the European Commission again. To do this, we are aiming for a much more widespread and rigorous use of age verification technology.
The radical paradigm shift, however, responds to a drift that actually began many years ago. When the “Like” button made its appearance on Facebook: the impact was enormous and, to borrow the words of Professor Cal Newport (expert on digital issues), with that change «the trajectory of social media has changed forever». That seemingly innocuous thumbs up has in fact begun to instruct the algorithms (the complex mathematical calculations that decide which posts to show to the user) to promote content capable of accumulating the most rapid approval. The result? A push towards polarization, where the simplest and most divisive contents win hands down over the complex and nuanced ones, penalizing in-depth information and rewarding the search for easy consensus. Today, faced with the enormous dangers that come together with the extraordinary technological opportunities we have, Europe has understood that childhood cannot wait. Something must be done immediately to remedy a situation that risks turning into a full-fledged social problem.
