Children access the use of mobile phones at younger and younger ages. At eleven years old, almost half of the children have one, at 12 years old, three out of four and when they reach age 14, nine out of ten already make regular use of the device. The use of mobile also implies access to social networks and messaging applications, including the well-known WhatsApp that we have known that aims to raise the minimum age of use from 13 to 16 years.
It can be interpreted that the intention is for minors to start later and thus avoid problems derived from the misuse of social networks. But in short nothing will change, since raising the limit three years will not prevent minors from using the application. In the end, the decision that your children use WhatsApp or not (as well as any social network), still the responsibility of the parents.
Nothing will change
The legislation in Spain indicates the fourteen years as a minimum age to be part of social networks, but the truth is that there is no safe way to guarantee age at the time of access, there are many children under that age present in them.
The same happens and will continue to happen with WhatsApp. Does anyone read the terms of use when accepting its installation? Nobody. You just need a phone number and that's it. As well as the legal minimum age of each country, the minimum age that WhatsApp establishes for its use, will be merely a formality.
As you think Samuel Fernandez, Xataka Mobile's partner, the new measure "will do no good":
"Currently there are already children under 13 who access WhatsApp, and surely there will be children under 16 who do so as soon as the new limit is activated. The reason is simple, you just have to accept the conditions of use to the time to install the application, and usually neither children nor parents read it. "
The new terms and conditions of use, which will be implemented as of May 25, have a legal purpose:
"WhatsApp will benefit, in turn, in terms of legal responsibilities, or Facebook failing that, if something happened to minors during the use of the application. As the United Kingdom already denounced on the encryption of the application, the establishment of encryption in WhatsApp communications could cover pedophiles and criminals. "
When asked by Babies and more, Maria Sanchez, an expert technology lawyer, mother of teenagers and author of Madres Cabreadas, agrees on the same:
"It really does not contribute anything, except for an attempt by WhatsApp to avoid its responsibility on what happens in its network when users are under 16, and this just before the entry into force of the General Data Protection Regulation at European level (RGPR), perhaps to get rid of a fine that could fall. "
And adds:
"Let's not fool ourselves, this measure is not intended to protect our teenagers, but WhatsApp", María Sánchez (Madres Cabreadas)"Although it may compensate you to pay it and continue collecting and using user data in a doubtful way (let's not forget that it shares owner with Facebook and Instagram)."
The use of networks is the responsibility of the parents
We have consulted with another expert, Meritxell Vineyards, adviser and trainer in new technologies applied to education and companies, who also agrees that nothing will change:
“I don't think anything will change with that measure. What WhatsApp is doing is legally protecting itself and leave the control ball on the roof of the parents”
At the moment in which the parents put a mobile in the hands of your child they have to make very clear the conditions of use, as well as the applications that they can use.
"Today, half of the elementary school students have mobile phones and those children obviously use WhatsApp because that's how they communicate, they don't call. If they only wanted to publish on social networks and make other uses, they already have tablets or a computer. A parent who gives a mobile to a child knows that he will use WhatsApp. ”
The danger of WhatsApp for minors
We usually allow it without restrictions, since being private conversations seems less threatening to the safety of our children than a social network like Facebook or Instagram, but it has its risk. Meritxell warns us:
“The use of WhatsApp in children is very dangerous because it provides them with false sense of security. They are already quite aware of what they can publish or not on social networks, but on WhatsApp they have the feeling that it is a private conversation and they can actually make screenshots, save conversations, images ... and that it ends up being a domain public".
Therefore, the expert recommends (except in exceptional cases) to delay the age of mobile delivery to children up to 16 years.
