July, 2022.- New technologies have, more and more, a growing impact on daily life, and not only as a means of interpersonal communication but also, thanks to the process of computerization of Cuban society, they allow the carrying out of procedures and access to information of interest on administrative and government management.
However, not everything is as easy as it sounds in the 2.0 world since the overconsumption of digital tools also has serious consequences for individual and social development, such as dependency and addiction.
An example of how cell phones, video games, and the Internet have an adverse impact on daily life today, especially for adolescents and young people, was brought by the popular Sunday series Calendar, broadcasted a few months ago on Cuban television.
The role of Noemí, addicted to mobile phones, is the story of countless minors who allow themselves to be seduced and dominated by new technologies without their parents and other people around them realizing the danger to which they are exposed.
Undoubtedly, the end of the episode in which the girl fell face down in front of the black screen was like a jolt of terror for numerous families, who at that time surely began to review how many times they have seen their children become alienated, unbridled in front of their cell phones for hours and hours without worrying about the world.
This is a phenomenon that is not very visible in the media or understood in the home environment, but it is no less real for that, since it is latent in today's society.Psychologists and other specialists warn that the impact of technologies is as necessary and inevitable as it is overwhelming since they have a positive side but also risks.
Limits between habit and dependency are usually too subtle in this matter, to the point of being imperceptible for many social actors such as educators and parents, who are primarily responsible for the well-being of minors.
In the case of the educators, it must be an ethical duty to closely monitor the use that is given to cell phones at school, since it is known that they even become a vehicle for discrimination and school ridicule, without disregarding other threats such as the promotion of pornographic videos, which Calendar also taught us.
Parents, for their part, must closely monitor the use made by minors of mobile phones and other devices. They must ensure that they also have time to carry out physical activities or share with the family, and not let the whirlwind of haste and daily necessities, or perhaps naivety make something that has so many benefits sick.
For the new generations to grow up in a safe digital environment, as proposed by the Family Code project, we can all always be alert, not close our eyes to the problem or resort to impositions or extremism, but rather strike a balance between usefulness and necessity. Those are the keys to enjoying new technologies and their innumerable benefits.
