A World Health Organization study places Romania first among 44 countries for problematic social-media use among adolescents, deputy Raluca Turcan said in a Facebook post published on Sunday.
Turcan said more than 22 percent of Romanian children aged 11 to 15 show symptoms of addiction: they cannot stop checking their phones, no longer have time for homework, sleep poorly, and become anxious and restless when the phone is taken away. She said the European average is 11 percent, so Romania has twice as many affected children.
On Friday in Sibiu she joined a debate organised with the association Children, Not Screens. Teachers, psychologists, psychiatrists and representatives of child-protection institutions, public-order bodies and the administration took part.
Turcan said she has launched several legislative initiatives. They include limiting mobile-phone access for the whole school day, including breaks, from preschool through high school; audio-video monitoring in shared school spaces; and psychological counselling for children involved in violence.
She also said she wants legislation that would limit minors' access to social networks, strengthen parental control and make social-media platforms accountable, including through sanctions.
Turcan said the temptation to give a small child a screen to hold their attention, help them eat or keep them quiet, followed by early and uncontrolled access to social networks, gambling platforms or similar tools, can create imbalances that are hard to correct in adult life, along with vulnerability to online predators.
In her view, the Sibiu debate should be a starting point for further legislative initiatives, and the discussion should continue with the direct involvement of children and adolescents.