Children and digital technology: a proposed bill to protect the 0–3 age group

The real digital revolution? Training parents, teachers, paediatricians and all professionals who, as part of their work, deal with children and young people in guiding them in the use of digital technology. This is at the heart of the draft bill, designed to regulate exposure to digital devices among children aged between zero and three, and presented today at Palazzo Madama by Senator Simona Malpezzi, together with Terre des Hommes Italia and the Italian Paediatric Society (SIP), and signed, amongst others, by Elisa Pirro of the Five Star Movement, Daniela Sbrollini of Italia Viva, Licia Ronzulli of Forza Italia, and Mariastella Gelmini of Azione.

In the face of the global spread of laws that ban under-15s from accessing social media – the latest case, and the first in the European Union, is France – some politicians are attempting to respond by going beyond mere bans and protecting those who, first and foremost, risk being overwhelmed by the digital revolution, amplified byartificial intelligence. Whilst I am aware that a bipartisan bill aimed at regulating minors’ access to social media platforms has been languishing in Parliament for some time.

The draft bill – entitled ‘Provisions for regulating children’s exposure to digital devices from birth to the age of three, to safeguard their neurocognitive, physical and relational development and to promote gradual access to their use whilst they are minors’ – is based on an observation: parents are ill-equipped to deal with the increasingly pervasive spread of digital devices and the risks these may pose if not used correctly. ‘This neglect takes many forms and can be emotional, physical and even educational,’ notes Federica Giannotta, Head of Advocacy and Projects for Italia at Terre des Hommes Italia. “It often happens that children are left alone for hours in front of digital devices because no one has officially told parents that these devices are harmful.”

For this reason, the bill calls for the involvement of the Ministers for Health and Family Affairs in the issuance of ministerial guidelines to be displayed in all places frequented by parents and children and to be incorporated into training, including at university level, of professionals who work with children: paediatricians, doctors, psychologists, teachers, educators and carers. Relying solely on prohibitions once children have reached adolescence is, in fact, found to be too late and ineffective: what is needed is supervision and explanation. ‘From prohibition to guidance’, is Senator Malpezzi’s summary.

Alongside the ministerial guidelines that serve as a framework for support, the draft bill provides for a technical working group comprising experts from various institutions, which will periodically update the guidelines, and a fund for children’s digital health, which, as mentioned, to the training of the adults responsible for educating and supporting them, right from the prenatal stage.