The Ministry of Health, through the General Directorate of Public Health, today presented in a press conference the results of the Desenrédate intervention program, which has already reached 88 Secondary Education centers in the Canary Islands with the aim of preventing the misuse of new technologies among young people, favoring a responsible and healthy approach to social networks and the use of mobile devices.
The General Director of Public Health of the Canary Health Service, Concepción Gil Páez, was accompanied by the president of the Official College of Psychologists of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Carmen María Linares Alberto, the vice-dean of the Official College of Psychologists of Las Palmas Cristina Sánchez Benavente, and the general coordinator of the Desenrédate project, the professor of Clinical Psychology of the ULL, Juan Capafons Bonet.
Concepción Gil pointed out that the scale of the intervention carried out and the relevance of the results are pioneering throughout the state. Its importance is crucial for the prevention of inappropriate use of technologies and the promotion of appropriate use of these new tools, betting on the continuity of the project.
The General Director of Public Health pointed out that young people and adolescents constitute the sector most influenced by new technologies due to the ease of meeting people and establishing new friendships, as well as their high power of evasion, but the problem occurs when excessive use of these tools causes isolation, anxiety, low self-esteem and loss of control.
The ambitious study carried out during these four years (from 2016 to 2019) has allowed a radiography of the Canary Islands regarding the use that our young people make of new technologies, and is a good example of transversal work with the involvement of multiple entities; in this case, universities and ministries of the Government of the Canary Islands.
Desenrédate has been directed by the professor of Clinical Psychology of the University of La Laguna, Juan Capafons Bonet, executed by the Colleges of Psychology of Santa Cruz de Tenerife and Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, and coordinated by the Drug Dependence Service of the General Directorate of Public Health, with the collaboration of the General Directorate of Planning, Promotion and Educational Innovation.
The director of the project has reported on the number of students who have participated in the program, a total of 13,200, of which 7,300 correspond to the province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife and 6,900 to Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. In total, 88 secondary schools: 50 Centers from the four western islands and 38 from the eastern islands.
8.4% of our young people and 8.6% of our young women are at risk of addiction to mobile phones and social networks. That is, they make excessive and improper use of these technologies, taking up a large part of their time and neglecting healthier and more necessary activities for their personal and emotional development.
Regarding the risk of addiction in the field of video games, boys obtain higher results, 12.8 of males present addictive behavior compared to 2.3 in the case of women.
In the case of addiction to social networks and mobile phones, there is a slight increase over these four years, going from 8.1% of young people at risk in 2016 to 10.6% in this last year.
With regard to video games, this trend is not so clear. It increases during the first three years, but in 2019 the percentage of young people affected is slightly reduced compared to 2018 (from 9.2% of that year to 8.3% of the current year). Regarding other problems associated with the misuse of ICTs, we can see how cyberbullying, sexting and grooming are in similar percentages of those affected. Specifically, in the case of cyberbullying, 7 women and 4 men out of every 100 are at risk or suffering harassment through new technologies.
In the case of sexting, the percentage is 2.3 in the case of women and 3.5 in the case of men.
In grooming, that is, when certain adults try to obtain some type of sexual satisfaction using networks, the percentage in women is clearly higher than in men, since 14.8 women may be at risk of some adult, some "predator" trying to contact them, being 7.2% in the case of men. The reception of both students and teachers has been excellent, and the assessment and satisfaction of users very high. It highlights the great involvement of the centers, their management teams and teachers in the implementation of the program, so that those who participate in the program are more predisposed to a healthy and responsible use of technologies.
Through workshops, and with the use of audiovisual media, during the intervention program students are informed of multiple aspects related to the proper use of mobile phones, social networks, video games and the internet in general.
The monitors (experts in health psychology) interact with young people to promote good use of new technologies and stay away from the main dangers that they can bring, such as addiction to video games, addiction to mobile phones and social networks, cyberbullying, sexting, gambling (online betting), scams or compulsive purchases, among others.
