Petition and bipartisan bill against cell phones and social media for under 14s

(ANSA) – ROME, SEPTEMBER 25 – A petition and two bipartisan bills presented to the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate. These are the ‘weapons’ deployed by a group of parliamentarians, urged by Democratic Party senator Simona Malpezzi, to combat the invasiveness of smartphones and social media in the lives of children under 16 and 14. An initiative that was illustrated today in a press conference at Palazzo Madama in the presence, among others, of the leader of Azione Carlo Calenda; of FDI senator Lavinia Mennuni, first signatory of the bill submitted to the Senate; of M5S parliamentarian Barbara Floridia and of Democratic deputy Giovanna Madia, first signatory of the bill presented in Montecitorio. The petition, which has already “collected 50 thousand signatures”, was promoted by psychotherapist Alberto Pellai and is also strongly supported by pedagogue Daniele Novara, who was present at the meeting with the press. The latter underlined, in particular, how the ban on using smartphones and social media for young people under 14 has “no prohibitionist intent”, but rather “educational”. “Just as it was decided that alcohol and tobacco were prohibited for minors of that age – he explained – we must do the same for cell phones and social media” because, as Senator Malpezzi also observed: “We cannot continue to talk about an alarm regarding the condition of adolescents and then not intervene”. “The smartphone – added the Democratic MP – is changing the way we interact and socialize, it generates addictions, it leads to alterations of the white matter in brain areas central to learning to read and write. Supporting the appeal of Daniele Novara, Alberto Pellai and many other pedagogists, educators and therapists does not mean being anti-historical or anti-technological, but listening to what science says, preventing the cognitive development of young people and their sociality from being negatively altered”. (ANSA).