Education, innovation and childhood, from law to reality, what can we do for our children today? – Camera radio

In this edition of the program Talking about the future journalist Beth Veloso fwing on the connected educational innovation policy, under a broad view of society, the state and the role of each of them.

First of all, this program is not just for parents or teachers. This program is for that person who was born with a mobile phone in his hand, that is, a child who is now being helped by his parents.

So, what age should you give your kids a phone? This is perhaps the most difficult question to answer when talking about education in today’s world. Simply because there is no single answer. That is why no country has dared to pass a law recommending the use of cell phones only after a certain age. In Spain, studies show that the final word depends on each family. This results from the analysis of so many factors: the maturity of the children, the family context, the level of control that parents manage to have over their children, the context in the environment.

What is unanimous, and this does not depend on proof, is that the use of mobile phones should bring people together, not separate them from the same family. Parents and children must unite around the Internet. And it is exactly the opposite of what mostly happens in Brazil, where the phone becomes a digital babysitter for working parents.

Sebastian Bortinik[1] created an NGO to warn of the number of children who chat online with older people, thinking they are dealing with another child on the other side. It is a network made up of pedophiles, exploiters and producers of content such as child pornography. Sebastian has written a guide to healthy internet use.

Among the tips, the child’s phone must be monitored not only by parental control mechanisms, but also by a careful, vigilant father and mother, who control, first of all, the time of use of the device; which applications can and cannot be downloaded to the phone and, above all, which content is accessed on social networks and with whom children communicate.

In Brazil, we know that many laws deal with digital education. At the theoretical level, legislation and regulations guarantee many rights: 1) schools must be treated equally with each other; 2) teachers must have the autonomy to adopt technology as they wish, 3) students must act as protagonists. This is what, for example, Law 14.180 from 2021 says[2]. Not forgetting, of course, that schools must have quality access to the Internet.

A recent interview here on Radio Câmara (Márcio knows what it is) showed that the reality is quite different and that the public schools are empty, the connectivity is from the stone age, there are no computers in the classroom and even in a pandemic, with closed schools, only a small number teachers had access to distance learning tools.

Free software, i.e. non-proprietary, free educational materials and incentives to schools for better connectivity are among the goals imposed on telecommunications companies in the auction for the sale of 5G frequencies.

This is a long process, but it should be significant because 5G is expected to be a big revolution, with this story of the Internet of Things. Anyone who has a virtual assistant, like Alexia, knows what I’m talking about, but that’s not the reality of those listening to this program.

The reality here, among Brazilian children, is: whoever has a relationship is on Tik Tok and its microfilms like facial choreography. Those who do not, chat on their networks with their friends via WhatsApp, Facebook or Intagran, thanks to zero-rating partnerships with telephone operators. And snooping into other people’s lives. The connection between education and the Internet in Brazil is still distant, uncertain, slow and mostly part of the world of elite, private education.

Where is the law that we don’t see in practice is a question that needs to be discussed because digital blackout often starts with a lack of energy in the school. When I asked the Chamber’s library to research this topic to write today’s program, I was impressed by the many laws and decrees on how to guarantee students and teachers of elementary education access to the Internet for educational purposes. These laws are fundamental, such as the Student Computer Program and the Teacher Laptop Project.

Digital education has been going on for years. Start at home. It is based on the time limit of using the phone. End of conversation with an adult. Breaking the silence of blind navigation that can lead a child ua the dark web, into the black world of the network where all kinds of crimes take place with impunity. Simple instructions can prompt a child to think before sending a photo or avoid an anxiety attack by reducing or limiting social media use to no more than two hours. That’s the average in Spain, and that’s already a lot. Anxiety brings many disorders to those who are not yet growing, and it is related to depression which increases the suicide rate of teenagers.

The cell phone should not be a cordon between you and your child, nor should you wait for the government and its regulations that teach in school that a virtual visit to the Louvre museum in France can be much more interesting than these videos that algorithms suggest to you, trying to keep your attention as much as possible possible because the sale of ads on the platform depends on it.

Everywhere in the world, children use the Internet in the same way. What they expect from mobile phones is to connect with people. Friends, friends and friends. Whether this is done in a healthy way depends on how your parents use their cell phone and how dependent you are on it. First, because you have to have time to spend with your children. Second, because they need to take the time to teach their children how to surf the Internet safely, along with the advice we’ve already mentioned here: don’t talk to strangers, even if they “are”, in quotes, kids, you can’t .

Whether children move beyond infotainment depends on schools, society, governments, public policies and laws.

platform frisson At this moment, the Chinese Tik Tok, has reached 3 billion downloads worldwide in 2021, and is certainly not aware of Brazilian laws to promote values ​​such as our culture, our people, our language, our history, political values ​​and Brazilian democracy.

On the contrary, with a lot of laughter, grimaces and dancing, Tik Tok also promoted fake news, misinformation, prejudices and other content that is intolerable for a vulnerable public that does not know how to filter well what is good and what should be left aside.

The fact is that if the future is already the greatest uncertainty for the small and the small, warns researcher Ronaldo Lemos, in a phenomenon he calls “The Great Split”, i.e. how digital networks destroy culture and increase anxiety[3]”.

The researchers’ warning is: platforms use and abuse algorithms that try to tap into your unconscious, so that you make decisions based on emotion, which generates more engagement than reason, when we think before acting. And fear was one of the main tools of this neuromarketing to generate emotions, whether positive or negative, but that’s a topic for another Future Talk.

For now, we are monitoring what our son is doing on his cell phone because the future of this nation depends on it.

In short, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics[4]for babies and children up to 18 months of age, the recommendation is: no time in front of the screen, with the only exception of video chat with relatives and friends.

For children ages 18 to 24 months, there may be screen time with a parent or other caregiver.

Preschoolers: no more than an hour a day of educational programming, watched with a parent or guardian who can help them understand what they are watching.

And for children and teens ages 5 to 18: Parents should set limits on screen time for their children, including television, social media, and video games.

And always provide your child with sleep and physical activity, including play.

Communicate with us. Tell your stories and how you got out of trouble by sending an email to papodefuturo@camara.leg.br

[1]Available at: https://www.ted.com/talks/sebastian_bortnik_the_conversation_we_re_not_having_about_digital_child_abuse. Accessed: 16.10.2022.

[2]http://educacaoconectada.mec.gov.br/legislacao#:~:text=Decreto%20n%C2%BA%209.204%2C%20de%2023,Brasileira%20para%20a%20Transforma%C3%A7%C3%A3o %20Digital.

[3] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDdgi8EpOC4.

[4] Available at: https://kidshealth.org/es/parents/tv-habits.html.

Commentary – Beth Veloso

Presentation – Marcio Achilles Sardi