Spain calls for smartphones to carry warning

Just like alcohol, junk food and tobacco, smartphones should carry a health warning says the Spanish government amid concerns from doctors around screen time and new data revealing we spend 12 years of our lives in front of a screen.

Yes. The potential impacts of the beloved Smartphone are becoming more and more real and increasingly sinister as the consequences are rearing their ugly heads. So much so that doctors are now being obliged to ask about screen time during checkups.

Spain’s government purports that smartphones sold in Spain should come with a label, which alerts users and parents to their potential health impacts. This is included in the same report, which states that doctors should be more collaborative in combatting excessive smartphone use and its many associated new pseudo illnesses like Facebook addiction and other social media syndromes.

Spain pushes for digital device limit: ban for children under three years

These moves are of course not random and not new. As Spain pushes for limits to children’s exposure to technology including social media, gambling and porn sites, in line with other European countries, there is a call for minors to have limited access overall to digital devices until they are 13 years old. In fact, so utterly shocking have recent figures and analyses of mobile phone use and screen time been, that it is now being considered a public health problem – a national pandemic. The 50-member committee of experts drafting new child limitations to technology have produced a 250-page report on the matter, which urges for banning digital devices for children under three years of age and for children under six, this should be in small doses. For children between the ages of six years and 12, parents are encouraged to facilitate “dumb phones” stripped of internet access to allow for calls and messaging only.

The next move calls for warning labels stipulating these very real dangers of the smartphone and warning consumers of the health risks, especially to child development. Further to this, new initiatives including pop up warnings on screens for certain applications or platforms are on the cards, as subliminal sensitizing of the population to the problem is a last resort.

Smartphones must carry health warnings as they pose real medical risks

A Big Brother state? Maybe. But, Spain essentially aims to protect a society from a public health scandal and pandemic, especially its minors. Screen time is generating huge problems for children and teenagers and in the same way that we deal with anxiety and depression, the same should be said for the consequences of excessive screen time, which are producing identical symptoms worthy of medical attention.

Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez also referred to another bone of contention – the ubiquitous use of pornography among youngsters, describing the situation as an “authentic epidemic” of online pornography consumption among children. “One in four young people under the age of 12 – and nearly half of those under 15 – has had access, or currently has access, to pornography.”

Schools across Spain and overseas are cracking down on the use of the mobile phone in the classroom in light of such figures and draft legislation proposes stricter parental controls and a national education campaign to mitigate these issues, especially for adolescents. Healthcare specialists are being trained to address the issue of smartphone addiction and training programmes for families are in the pipeline.

Battle against smartphones: waging a war to protect future generations

By equipping health professionals, teachers, and parents with the tools and training to address this issue, society is mobilizing as if preparing for a battle against a pervasive cultural force. It marks a critical step toward safeguarding the well-being of future generations, despite resonating with “Big Brother” style behaviours.

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