During the months of June, July and August, exposure to screens increases by 30% among children, according to the digital company Qustodio. It's the goal of many parents that their children don't spend the summer looking at cell phones, video games and tablets, but experts agree that adults are an example and it's useless to tell kids and young people not to use cell phones if they see us all day glued to cell phones.

Holidays are, precisely, to connect: to play, to speak, to walk, to be… the hours off, because the stressful rhythm we have throughout the course does not give any chance for it. To disconnect is to enjoy a fresher summer, says the group of parents of the ikastola Zurriola de Donostia Teknoiz, and to this end has sent the parents a seemingly very feasible list. Everyone will have to judge to what extent the challenge is simple and depends on the phone.

Ten-point challenge

Some of the points on the list are: silence notifications (“look at messages whenever you want, not mobiles whenever you want”); if you have to communicate with someone, call; remove unnecessary applications; return the concentrated functions on the mobile to the corresponding devices (put the alarm clock or wake time clock); choose a discreet place where to leave and charge the phone when we come home, “overnight parking”, at night. And of course, talking face to face, playing, being, sharing, reading, living…

Regarding the use of screens by children, in ARGIA we collected a series of reflections on how to consume the screens, the difficulties to establish limits, the moments we must avoid as a resource, etc. After all, “it’s not so much about what the child or the young person looks at the screen, but about what he doesn’t do when he’s looking at the screen, the time he takes to play, explore, create…”.