Children’s Digital Well-being: From Discussion to Action in the Senate

On March 5, I had the honor of participating in the conference “Mejor Conectados, Mejor en Familia” (translated as: “Better Connected, Better as a Family,”) an event organized by PantallasAmigas at the iconic Senate Palace. It was a unique opportunity to discuss one of today’s key challenges: the protection and digital well-being of children in a rapidly evolving technological environment.

I was fortunate enough to participate in the panel discussion titled “De la conversación a la acción: el futuro de la protección de los menores en los entornos digitales” (traslated as: “From Conversation to Action: The Future of Child Protection in Digital Environments.”). Moderated by Cristina Sayol López (Director of Political Intelligence), I shared my thoughts with high-level legislative and institutional figures:

• Pablo González Menéndez and Sergio Barasoain Rodrigo, spokespersons for the Senate Committee on Digital Transformation.
• María Dolores Pastor de los Santos, Deputy Director General for Children and Adolescents of the Community of Madrid.

From my perspective, I emphasized the importance of developing a critical mindset toward technology. It is not enough to simply be users; we must understand technological development from its very origins in order to build a safer digital society. Some of the key points we emphasized during the meeting were:

• The Need for Public-Private Partnerships: Industry, government, and citizens must work together.
• Family mediation: Families should support young people, basing their actions on trust and understanding.
• Values education: Technical tools are necessary, but the real compass is the guidance we provide to teenagers as they take their first steps in the digital world.