The State Attorney General’s Office cites in its latest report how the Córdoba Juvenile Prosecutor’s Office is handling a case of dissemination of false photos, taken on Telegram using AI, which show the faces of some students from a IES on a naked body and they spread to a limited extent in the environment of this educational center, affecting their privacy and moral integrity.
And this is not the only case, this unit of the Public Ministry is also investigating a case of dissemination of photographs and videos of a minor under 13 years old. sexual content. It is striking, the prosecution underlines in this annual report, “that this material came into the possession of the victim’s friends between the ages of 12 and 13 and that some of them showed it to their 10-year-old brother, without any awareness of doing something reprehensible and inappropriate because of his brother’s age”, underlines the prosecution general.
With this panorama of which only the tip of the iceberg reaches the Juvenile Prosecutor’s Office, this public authority has underlined the need to treatment centers to reverse this abusive or misuse of social networks whose specific unit – pioneer in Spain – stands out for the treatment of these behaviors in minors, young people up to 21 years old and families of the Social Protection Institute (IPBS) of the Provincial Council of Cordoba.
The State Attorney General’s Office emphasizes that this is the way forward and that sanctions such as internment could be replaced by these abuses of networks or technology. The coordinator of the Drug Addiction Unit for the care of minors, young people and families of the Social Assistance Institute of Cordoba Miguel’s Madeleine detailed to ABC that this team is made up of three professionals, two social educators and a psychologist and that as it is proposed, it is a unique example in the Andalusian autonomous community. More than 60 minors and young people have passed through its hands and so far this year, 40 treatments are underway.
This program is part of the prevention of behavioral disorders in young minors due to the use of these devices. One of the three professionals who make up the team is Manuel Cazallosocial educator of the specific program to work with adolescents, minors and families. This unit began its journey due to the need to intervene with these profiles with minors and young people aged 14 to 21 “by necessity the problems of abuse and substances like cannabis.”
In fact, it is the substance, they point out, that generates the most problems at these ages, so it was necessary that the intervention be not only clinical and medical, but also psychoeducationalSo there is a psychologist and two educators in the team. “The minors we treat are in a moment of physical, psychological and social development, from school children who go to institutes, to adolescent life, so they require a specific approach,” they add from this unit.
“We started working with these profiles from 14 to 21 years old, the problem being 90 percent of common consumption. It is risky consumption, which generates conflict situations in family relationships, school truancy, juvenile justice cases. At that time, in 2019-2020, we started working on problems related to the use of screens in very specific cases, which had generated more complex problems, such as isolation, sedentary lifestyle“, sleep disorders, eating disorders or dropping out of school, or major family conflicts such as the use of parents’ credit cards,” they explain to IPBS.
Cazallo explains that it is in the last four or five years that screen abuse and the age of initiation has been lowered: “Basically, the profiles we work with with problems related to these devices are between 13 and 16 years old, even 12 years old.”
“It’s not just the use of screens but we’re talking use of mobile phone and tablet, consumption of Instagram, Tiktok or social networks in general and in some cases inappropriate content such as girls taking photos with erotic content, without taking into account the consequences such as these can circulate on the Internet, and which generates, at a personal level, damage to privacy”, they comment from that moment. unit. Currently, there are four minors in treatment within the unit due to these cases, confirms this educator of the IPBS.
And these are not the worst cases, “we find young women – gender bias is very strong – who access pages that promote self-harmclosely linked to suicide. “We were able to treat two girls from the unit who had self-harmed; “These are two serious cases, who arrived there guided by the content of pages that are social networks,” they warn.
“You come into contact with other girls who self-harm as an emotional coping mechanism, meaning if you’re feeling down and you’ve had a fight with your boyfriend and you’re depressed, well they incite you enter the room and cut yourself. What may seem like an isolated behavior has an aesthetic or poetic content, as in the case of challenges like “Blue Whale” that have circulated on social networks where everything appears. Can find all tribesfrom “reggaeton” to “gray”, with certain types of aesthetics, clothing, music, even liturgical books; “There is a great diversity”, according to this educator.
In this addiction unit we work from an individualized point of view due to the abuse of social networks, screens, computers or video game consoles “because some may have problems with video games but not with the iPhone, nor with the Internet… you have to know how to diagnose it.” “They are not all in the same bag,” adds this educator. At the diagnostic level, they do not work with concept of dependency on screens and minors but of abuse problems, because there is no diagnostic category that creates addiction.
The mobile phone is a work tool, assures this team, and it has a specificity: it is necessary to evaluate the problems that are or are not behind it and if they are complex, they add. This unit addresses complex problems in children of 14 or 15 years old, which respond in most cases to problems of shyness, a certain personality, isolation, and find themselves in screens how to solve this problem; Some of them suffer from fatphobia, they are not leaders and interact with a computer, without leaving their home, and with other people “online”, they tell from the experience of these profiles who follow treatment.
Another issue addressed in this unit is that of children who have suffered from lack of standardsat home, supervision in the use of these devices. This educator reminds us that a child cannot spend six hours on a cell phone.
Cases of minors referred by institutes, by Mental Health, by the Public Prosecutor’s Office, by Municipal Social Services, arrive at this processing unit of the Provincial Council. Pediatricsjuvenile justice, parents themselves or through government sub-delegation – particularly for substance use.
This team of educators and psychologists, in the short term, after analyzing the situation of the minor and his family, establishes guidelines ranging from modifying the hours of use of the mobile phone, free time and leisure time (sports), or establishing rules and routines as a family, where you can work on your skills or self-esteem… a small short-term plan. Treatment lasts a maximum of one year, although some do not need more than two months to get out of treatment. The age of minors in care has dropped in recent months to 12 years.
