Swedish Health Minister Jakob Forsssmed called on the European Union to quickly take measures to limit the use of social media by children and adolescents. He stressed that this is one of the most urgent issues in the field of health, TASR reports according to Politico portal.
“We are losing the whole generation in infinite browsing (social media) and malicious content, we have to do something about it,” Forsssmed said. He added that the impact of social media on youth is the “most pressing health problem”.
His statement follows the speech of the President of the European Commission Ursula von Der Leyen, indicating that Europe could follow an example of Australia. Since December, it plans to ban social media access to all users under 16 years of age. Von Der Leyen promised to set up an expert panel to assess the effectiveness of the Australian model and prepare recommendations for the Union.
Forsssmed pointed out that Europe should not hesitate. “We don’t have time. We have to act quickly,” he said in an interview with Politico. In his words, Swedish research has already clearly demonstrated the negative impacts of social media on mental health, including food intake disorders and distorted self -esteem.
In Sweden, they have already made recommendations that children under two years of age do not come into contact with screens and teenagers used them daily for a maximum of three hours. At the same time, the government began to investigate the possibilities of limiting social media and age limits.
Denmark also calls for stricter rules. Minister for digitization Caroline Stage Olsen said she supports mandatory age verification, prohibition of harmful and addictive practices for minors and more consistent enforcement of the rules at EU level. She explained that this was one of the most important priorities for its country as part of the half -year Danish Presidency of the EU Council.
Since February, Denmark has banned the use of smartphones in schools, like France in 2018. This month the same ban in Belgium entered into force, Politico recalls. Five EU countries – Denmark, Greece, France, Italy and Spain are also testing the application of the European Age Verification Commission, a new system designed to protect children on the Internet.
