The "Adolescence free of mobile phones" movement grew significantly during the first trimester of the 2023-2024 school year, with the slogan "That the child without a phone in 1st year of ESO is not the weird one in class." The goal was to break the association that had become almost a rite of passage: finishing primary school, starting ESO, and receiving the first mobile phone.
The article addresses families who initially resisted giving their children their first mobile phone but ended up caving when the children reached 1st year of ESO. This yielding was described colloquially as "eating it with potatoes," referring to the impossibility of resisting social pressure.
The first mobilized families expressed alarm at the impact of social media and early screen access on children. They questioned when it became normalized for a 12-year-old child to have their own mobile phone.
The movement specifically targeted the social pressure that made children without mobile phones feel like "outsiders" in the classroom, something many families acknowledged as difficult to combat even when they initially tried to resist.
