Seattle schools sue social networks

We parted before Christmas talking about a controversial report by a commission of senators that defines young people as decerebrate and drug addicts due to the use of smartphones. And during the holidays many of you wrote to me to have your say. Some to stigmatize the excessive tone and lack of scientific sources of the Senate report. But others to highlight the harmful effects that not only smartphones but social networks in particular are having on the growth of children. Not just in the classroom.

It is a fundamental issue which we must continue to talk about. As evidenced by the sensational decision by Seattle public schools to sue Instagram, TikTok, YouTube and Facebook for the damage their algorithms are doing to the new generations (literally, “for exploiting the vulnerable minds of young people”). It’s surprising because Seattle is home to both Microsoft and Amazon, and so it’s not exactly a bastion of the past. We will see how the American cause goes and if there are others. It is probable.

In the courts and outside it is important to investigate the matter, scientific data in hand, to substantiate or deny our fears. But in the meantime we can already do something in our families, with our children: setting limits, times and moments, without digital. We need analog moments. Without notifications, phone calls, games, scrolling of friends’ statuses. The opposite of what I saw on Sunday in a park in Rome: the fathers were playing a furious soccer match while the young children were parked on a bench with tablets in their hands.