“The biggest mistake today is giving smartphones to children”

With a great scientific vision, but in a very informative way, the Dr. Miguel Ángel Martínez-González puts black and white in his latest book “Salmon, hormones and screens” (Editorial Planeta) the current threats that threaten young people. According to his proposal, going against the current, like the salmon does, hand in hand with Public Health, could be the firewall for an epidemic of youth problems that spreads like wildfire.

Despite being the most educated generation and with the most resources at their disposal, are we facing young people with worse health?

Psychiatrists are surprised by the unprecedented extent of mental health problems in this population. There is a very strong dependence on screens, pornography and some types of drugs, such as joints or alcohol, which are trivialized. Spain is one of the countries in Europe with the worst data on drunkenness among minors and alcohol poisoning occurs at a very early age. This whole cocktail leads us to 25% of young people admitting to having suicidal ideas, as some studies confirm.

What consequences does all this have for health?

This is very worrying, because these addictions will take a heavy toll in the long term. An example of this is that suicide is the leading cause of death among young people. And that's just the tip of the iceberg, because for every completed suicide we know there are another 25 attempts. On the other hand, depression, anxiety, psychiatric illnesses, attention deficits, eating disorders have skyrocketed... All these pathologies are already a youth epidemic that is growing.

What are we doing wrong?

The biggest mistake being made is giving a smart cell phone to children.

What would be the ideal age to give him?

There is no immutable moment, as it will depend on many circumstances, but the later and “dumb” this device is, the better for your physical and mental health. Just as it is accepted that someone cannot drive a car until they are 18 years old, it must also be accepted that they do not use a cell phone, because with it we let our children drive along the information highways, which are much more dangerous than the highways, full of sexual predators, pornography, harassment… We need to open a social debate about this. Now it may sound unprecedented, but it also seemed impossible for us not to smoke in bars years ago and we no longer conceive otherwise.

He insists on pornography and there are statistics that guarantee that 78% of young people consume it frequently. What impact does this have?

It is a very serious danger, because currently pornography has become the world's Ministry of Education in sexual matters, with an industrial corporation behind it that generates billions of euros. Pornography is addictive and requires content that is increasingly aberrant and distant from reality. All of this is triggering sexually transmitted diseases, since, for example, syphilis or gonorrhea have multiplied tenfold in Spain in just two decades. And look what happened to monkeypox. In the long term, this will increase fertility problems and, in some cases, increase some types of cancer, such as cervical cancer, linked to the human papilloma virus.

It also focuses on hormone consumption. Is it a taboo subject?

I am referring to the massive consumption of hormones, especially oral contraceptives, although it is not politically correct to talk about this because “big pharma” is behind it. But it's curious that we think about taking a hormone pill daily to cure nothing, when it's crazy, as it has been shown to increase the risk of heart attacks, strokes or hormone-dependent breast cancer. In the book I give natural alternatives for this, because they really exist.

It's not easy to go against the current...

Without a doubt, but in Public Health we are characterized by raising our voices when others don't want to hear. I am optimistic and believe that time will prove us right.