Children online: reducing the social value of platforms through bans and education

Harmful content, overstimulation, physiological effects. These three broad areas could be used to summarise the negative correlations that are now well-known and accepted by researchers between social media use and mental health issues amongst young people, particularly during the pre-adolescent phase. The age at which a child first gains access: the Eyes Up study, conducted by the University of Milan-Bicocca, has provided statistical evidence on the effects of early access to digital devices on academic performance, drawing also on results from the Invalsi tests.

‘When discussing digital technology and children, it is important to bear in mind that the experiences to which they are exposed vary: there is the use of computers for study, there are video games, and there is the time spent on social media platforms, often involving lengthy scrolling. And it is precisely the way in which social networks have been designed – due to their addictive features, as recognised by the European Union itself – that gives rise to harmful effects on young people”, explains Marco Gui, Professor of Media Sociology at the University of Milan-Bicocca and President of the Fondazione Patti Digitali (established in 2025 to consolidate the National Network of Digital Pacts, which now involves over 26,000 parents across 17 regions). ‘Such as viewing content that leads to dissatisfaction and difficulty in accepting one’s own body among girls, or content that exacerbates toxic masculinity among young people via influencers from the manosphere. Then there is the interruption of study to check notifications, or the impact on family relationships, which affects parents themselves through so-called phubbing (neglecting a person with whom one is engaged in a social situation in order to compulsively check one’s smartphone, ed.). And then, there are problems related to sleep, posture, eyesight and lack of physical activity’.

Alongside the restrictions on the use of social media – which legislators around the world are increasingly imposing to curb problems amongst young people – there is a need for both education and consensus. ‘It is important that parents, teachers, paediatricians, midwives and local authorities all work towards the same goal, because the problem is not only educational, but also one of public health and geopolitics, given that the platforms are managed from outside the EU,’ adds the professor from Bicocca University.

These bans, therefore, which may also be of an emergency nature until a safe space for minors is established on social media, ‘may be useful in reducing the social pressure placed on the platforms, particularly by pre-teens. If their value were to decline, at least in part – concludes Gui – social interaction could shift elsewhere”.