Let's focus on prevention: Who? When? How?

Prevention is understood as an organized set of strategies to anticipate the emergence of behaviors likely to lead to addiction. These interventions aim to reduce risk factors and increase protective factors against these behaviors.

This objective is achieved through the application of different strategies, implemented in different areas and at three levels depending on the target population:

• Universal prevention . Aimed at the entire population. It is the most general form of prevention.
• Selective prevention . Targeted at at-risk populations.
• Indicated prevention : Aimed at the population that already has the problem.

Family prevention

The family (or other adult role models, guardians, or the environment in which they live) is a key element in the digital education of children and adolescents. To educate is to accompany, guide, direct, and protect… Their role in this new context is fundamental in supporting them on their digital journey. This is a significant challenge that, nevertheless, requires time and dedication.

Positive digital parenting

We start from the values of positive parenting . Which, according to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, is "the behavior of parents based on the best interests of the child, which cares for, develops the child's abilities, is non-violent and offers recognition and guidance, including setting limits that allow the child's full development." Parents have the fundamental responsibility to educate their children and facilitate their development and look after their best interests; therefore, the well-being and development of the child should be the priority.

Based on these premises, it is recommended to:

• Lead by example . Children learn by imitation, so it's important to be consistent between what we do and what we say. Albert Einstein said , "Setting an example is not the main way to influence others, it is the only way." Families must be role models of responsible ICT use.
• Establish rules and limits that are consistent and appropriate for their age. By limiting the time, screen time, and location of the activity. How?:
  • Encouraging moments of disconnection: Do not use electronic devices during meals (use those spaces to talk to them), nor before going to bed, as they stimulate mental activity and make it difficult to sleep.
  • Prioritizing common areas of the house for device use and trying to share them.
  • Rationalizing usage time, prioritizing daily responsibilities and obligations: academic, domestic, etc.
• Promoting positive parent-child communication . It is essential to establish good communication with children, that they tell us their "things," but this communication must be bidirectional and reciprocal.
  • Listening to children with interest, "with your eyes", with active listening, taking into account and respecting their opinions.
  • Looking for spaces and opportunities to start a conversation
• Encourage critical thinking. Teach students to verify information and identify its sources. Not everything published on the internet is true and accurate.  
• Practice netiquette. Promote aspects such as empathy and respect. The use of social media should be governed by the same rules of behavior and respect as face-to-face communication.
• Share leisure and free time activities as a family: sports, cultural activities… Make a list of common activities and interests and create meeting spaces to share them as a family.
• Teaching how to protect personal data and Privacy, understanding the importance of digital reputation. They must also limit the publication of images of their sons and daughters on social media. Often, many parents practice sharenting. (the overexposure of children on social media, that is, excessive use in documenting and constantly reporting on the evolution of children).

Interventions

• Workshops for families to promote the healthy use of technology in children. Emphasis will be placed on families with children aged 0 to 3 years.
• Workshops for parents and children to reflect together on the use of technologies.
• Creation of spaces on accredited websites with specific information and consultation service.
• Preparation and dissemination of informational and preventive materials.

Promote good emotional education

Emotions are subjective reactions to the environment. It is important to teach children how to express, process, regulate, and channel their emotions appropriately—a continuous process throughout their development. The entire family should learn to express their feelings and act in accordance with them.

• Empathize: put yourself in the child's or teenager's shoes, try to understand their point of view, even if you don't share it.
• Boost their self-esteem. Create positive expectations and confidence, and encourage them to achieve their goals, valuing effort and perseverance.
• Teach them positive forms of expression. Through assertive communication, respecting their rights without infringing on the rights of others.
• Spend time building emotional connections . Express your feelings and affection. No one is ever too old to be told that you love them.

School prevention

While families are the primary agents involved in their children's education, schools play a crucial role as spaces for learning and socialization. Therefore, they are ideal settings for prevention efforts. We can assume that older students tend to have greater screen time, more social media accounts, more personal devices, and greater internet access. Furthermore, the school environment allows us to address both universal and targeted prevention, adding a deeper level of focus to our preventative work.

One of the challenges that may exist is the coexistence in many centers with screens (computers, projectors, tablets, televisions, social networks of the schools themselves, etc.), while at the same time the use of others (mobile phone or portable consoles) is prohibited.

Another challenge lies in the ambivalent messages that may exist with the family, so school prevention should also consider working with the adult role models of these boys and girls, in order to carry out a complete intervention proposal.

Interventions

• Workshops for students to promote critical thinking about screens.
• Workshops for students to work on emotional aspects of screen use.
• Workshops for adult role models to promote critical thinking about screens.

Community prevention

Preventive experience demonstrates the need to act across various sectors of the community. This means not implementing isolated initiatives, but rather integrating them into a comprehensive and unified proposal through the active participation, involvement, and shared responsibility of diverse social actors, combining efforts, establishing horizontal communication, and sharing common objectives and defining preventive strategies.

• Sports and leisure educators. These professionals are role models for young people, play a key role as educators, and can detect situations of risk and problematic use.
• Media outlets. The information and news they transmit, and how they present it, have an impact on the public, which should be used to disseminate best practices, recommendations, resources, etc.
• Primary care and health professionals . As health promoters, they can play a role in transmitting healthy habits and early diagnosis.

Interventions

• Preventive activities among peers, young people trained to transmit health messages.
• Conduct information and awareness campaigns and use the media to address health and ICT issues.
• Promote technical training in prevention and detection of problematic screen use in adolescents aimed at social agents.
• Develop protocols for action and referral regarding problematic screen use in adolescents and young people.
• Preparation of technical documents and methodological guides on the prevention and intervention of the use and abuse of ICTs.

Environmental or structural prevention

This type of prevention has proven highly effective, but at the same time, its strategies have often been unpopular and met with considerable resistance among young people and various groups. It involves modifying the cultural, social, and physical environment. As Elisardo Becoña states in "Environmental Prevention in Drug Use: What Measures Can We Apply ?", these strategies include:

• Regulate the number of gambling and betting establishments.
• Regulation of access to gambling.
• Changes in the way the game is played and in how prizes are awarded.
• Increase the age of access to gambling establishments.
• Increase the penalty system for non-compliance with current regulations.
• Warnings about gambling problems in gambling and betting establishments.