Bill on digital well-being enacted last month.
"Fourteen (thirteen with parental permission) is the age at which, according to Italian law, access to social media should be allowed. It “should be” because, according to the data – the most recent report is the XIV Atlante dell’Infanzia in Italia by Save the Children entitled Digital Times, 40.7% of young children aged 11-13 years are already on-line, with a 34% increase in the use of smartphones in children aged 6-10 in 2022 (Istituto Piepoli), while a recent survey by the Istituto Superiore di Sanità reveals that, in Italy, 22.1% of children aged 2–5 months spends up to an hour a day in front of screens. Numbers that don't just reveal the ineffectiveness of the rule but point to the risks to which minors are exposed, risks that also depend on the inadequacy of platforms, technologies, software, and algorithms that were not designed for them.
The protection of minors on-line is one of the areas of greatest interest for policy makers and national and European regulatory authorities and the regulatory framework is constantly updated. On November 21, the new Agcom provisions were enacted, setting guidelines for telephone operators that are now obliged to provide parental control systems free of charge in their plans and provide adequate assistance for their activation and age checks. The European strategy to increase awareness and regulate the use of digital services pushes, in fact, for cooperation between public and private". [...]
How many parents know how to use parental control systems? Today, we share an article by Manuela Mimosa Ravasio, published yesterday on La Repubblica, with links to the mentioned resources and further information.
Internet for the Very Young
Crescere nel benessere digitale Norme, educazione e cultura
Manuela Mimosa Ravasio
La Repubblica, Dec. 20, 2023
