Social Networks and Children: Angelov for Restricting Access

I stand categorically behind the idea of restricting children's access to social networks, stated the chairman of the parliamentary health committee, Kostadin Angelov, in his Facebook post. In his statement, he expresses serious concern about the platforms' influence on young people, emphasizing the potential negative consequences for their development.

Angelov points out that platforms, including TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, and YouTube, don't just take up time. According to him, they actively change children's brains, creating an addiction he compares to that of gambling and drugs.

In his presentation, the chairman of the health committee refers to warnings from neurologists. Specialists have been sounding the alarm for years about the mechanism by which social networks function. Each notification, like, or new comment triggers a dopamine cycle - a short rush of pleasure that the brain begins to seek again and again. According to experts, in children whose neural connections are still forming, this leads to neurological dependence on stimulation, anxiety, attention deficit, and disturbed sleep.

In support of his thesis, Kostadin Angelov also mentions a documentary in which former engineers from the technology giants Google, Facebook, and Twitter admit that the platforms are deliberately designed to exploit this mechanism - to keep users constantly "in the system", similar to slot machines that keep players in casinos. One of the creators of the "Like" button is quoted as saying: "We created a tool that rewards every second of attention."

The chairman of the health committee also recalls data from various studies, which show that in children spending more than three hours a day on social networks, the risk of depression and anxiety increases by over 60%. In addition, there is a sharp decline in concentration and social empathy.

Kostadin Angelov adds that psychologists are already talking about "digital withdrawal" - the same symptoms that are observed in substance abusers. He emphasizes that this is not freedom, but mass addiction in digital form. "We, the adults, are obliged to set a limit. Not to leave children alone against the algorithms that turn them into consumers before they become individuals. I fully support the idea of introducing an age limit - a ban on social networks up to the age of 15. Not to limit the young, but to give them back their childhood - time for play, communication, books and real life," Angelov writes.

The idea of restricting access to social networks for children up to the age of 15 was announced by the Minister of Education, who emphasized the importance of the issue, referring to sufficient evidence of the harmful influence of social networks on children.