“Our children are growing up under the influence of algorithms that monetise attention and manipulate emotion,” said Fianna Fáil MEP Billy Kelleher as he helped launched the Renew Europe position paper on protecting children’s mental health and well-being in the digital age.
“This is a kitchen table issue for millions of families that cannot be ignored at an EU level.
“The debate has long moved on from how much screen time a child has: it is about autonomy, resilience and above all else the mental health and wellbeing of our young people.
“The EU has all the tools it needs, such as the Digital Services Act and the AI Act, but does not yet have the urgency needed to address this crisis
“We need to make phone-free schools the European norm, recognise social media addiction as a public health issue, and demand accountability from the platforms that profit from our children’s vulnerability.
“From a legislative point of view, the European Commission must come forward with the Digital Fairness Act it promised European citizens.
“Behind every statistic are young women and men trying to understand their place in a digital world without distortion or misinformation. Children deserve role models, not algorithms.
“We cannot allow the next generation to be guided by systems designed to capture their attention rather than nurture their confidence. Protecting mental health is not a side issue, it is central to building the kind of Europe that gives its young people dignity, belonging and hope."
“Europe wrote the digital rulebook with the DSA and DMA, but our children are still left unprotected in the world’s biggest playground, the internet. We need clear rules, strong enforcement, and to work on a European digital age limit to ensure that children engage safely on digital platforms.
“Our new position paper calls on the European Commission to accelerate research into the psychological impact of digital platforms on minors, to fund teacher training and digital education under the next EU budget, and to move forward with the Digital Fairness Act.
“If we fail to act our children may grow up connected to everything except themselves,” concluded Kelleher.
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