"To limit" according to the RAE means, to set limits to something, to shorten; to restrict. If we limit the use of a product, we are exercising our will, as thinking and active human beings, in deciding how, when, and under what conditions I am going to use that product. Just as we do with our relationships and towards our different circles of coexistence and affections, we set, mark, and agree on limits. Or we should do so, to protect and care for ourselves and our environment. As mothers, something we must practice is precisely this, setting limits.
Three months ago, a group of mothers and fathers from the Barcelona neighborhood of Poble Nou started a movement to stop smartphone access for minors under 16 ---poblenou_adolescencialliuredemobils---. The lobby generated has reached such a magnitude that different autonomous communities are already prohibiting their use in schools for the next academic year. This has become a movement that has crossed borders and has put the debate on all agendas; the political agenda, the education agenda, and the mental health agenda.
As a mother of teenagers, I am late to this new law/agreement or norm, but I approve of it and join the movement.
As a branding strategist, I want to think about how this will affect mobile phone brands, digital application brands, and social networks. It is clear that it has gotten out of hand, that we never would have imagined that the Internet could cause addiction and destroy lives, families, relationships, and condition our decisions. It was a new environment, without limits, and it has come to control us. Being one of the most frequent reasons for addiction and consultation in adolescent mental health. The power of the Internet has made this initiative viral, and it is the same power that boycotts the adolescence of our children. The same tool that has shed light on the problem has caused us the problem.
Given what has been seen, we must be part of the solution, not the problem.
The entire Internet and mobile phone industry has a great opportunity to rethink its brand, its strategy, and its activism. It is time to position yourself alongside these adolescents and their families who have the problem at home and do not want it to be repeated in their daughters and sons. We know that the sale of smartphones to minors is 11% of the total market volume, according to Statista and this is a very important part of the business that they are going to lose.
When you are operating in a sector where you have these legal, ethical, educational, and health restrictions, you must be very empathetic and generous. As a brand, you cannot generate doubt or opportunism towards those responsible for the education of these minors. And all of society is part of this education. Not only families and schools, but also society, advertising, culture, and everything that happens on the street adds to or subtracts from this co-education.
The entire Internet and mobile phone industry has a great opportunity to rethink its brand, its strategy, and its activism.Knowing this, we are facing a great opportunity to become an allied brand, a friendly brand. And above all, brave.
It's the best time to say: "This Christmas, don't give them a mobile phone if they haven't turned sixteen." We're not selling it to you, we're in this together.
I've spoken to you before about the need for brands to be activist and brave, and this is another case that activism has handed to us on a silver platter. It's about being timely, not opportunistic; and investing our resources in accompanying these families through their children's adolescence. Apple, Huawei, Samsung, or Sony could invest in therapies for adolescents with screen addictions and look the problem squarely in the eye. Position themselves as the mobile brand that understands the harm of its misuse and be the first mobile phone for these young people when they turn 16 years old. They should create an entire community of families and users that provides security, protection, and limits to this new generation of internet users who must enter this digitalization of their lives in an assertive, mature, and protected way.
The first mobile phone brand, social media platform, or internet access provider that wants to go hand in hand with these families will earn the trust and loyalty of the entire family and the entire COMMUNITY. Making a mea culpa humanizes us.
Many times in business and projects, you have to take a step back to move forward, you have to lose to win later, you have to show all your cards to awaken trust and transparency and become part of this crucial stage in the lives of our children. The future of our society is in the hands of this generation that is asking us for limits. From a branding perspective, it's also about building brands with limits. Not everything goes.