The Minister of Education Krasimir Valchev launched the idea of introducing a ban on the use of social networks by children under 15. The proposal caused lively reactions and many questions - is such a restriction possible in practice, how will it be controlled and what problem does it aim to solve. Georgi Bogdanov, executive director of the National Network for Children, spoke to FAKTI.
- Mr. Bogdanov, the Minister of Education Krasimir Valchev launched the idea of banning social networks for children under 15. How will this be done? Or are we simply proposing something that we know will not work…
- We all want our children to be protected online – this is completely natural. But bans are not the path to safety.
A ban will not make a child safer - it will simply isolate them from the environment in which they will have to live anyway. The Internet is a real part of every child's life, like the street or school. If we do not teach them to navigate this world, we leave them alone among the dangers.
Real protection does not come from exclusion, but from inclusion through knowledge and skills - to recognize risks, to think critically, to know how social networks and their algorithms work.
A ban does not teach children responsibility, it makes them look for ways to get around it.
Therefore, instead of punishing, we need to prepare. Instead of closing, we need to educate digital literacy.
Children need not digital walls, but a compass - knowledge and confidence that will help them navigate safely and freely in the online environment. Only in this way do we make them not just protected, but strong and responsible.
- And why in Bulgaria, when we need to solve a more complex problem, do we resort to restrictions and bans?
- Because it's easier. A ban is a political way to show that you “are doing something”, without actually solving the problem.
Instead of building a long-term vision and investing in changing the environment, we choose quick action – restriction, order, sanction. This seems decisive, but in reality it distances us from the essence of the problem.
Real change requires effort – and not administratively, but humanly and systematically.
Policies are needed that build compassion, empathy and skills in children, and not punish them for living in a digital and dynamic age.
Successful countries do not prohibit, but offer alternatives. They invest in sports, culture, communities, volunteering, meaningful activities that help children and young people develop interests and belonging. When a child has a place to express themselves and feels accepted, the need to escape into the screen or to engage in destructive behavior decreases.
If the state wants to act seriously, let it start with the real threats - for example, the aggressive advertising of gambling that reaches children on social networks every day. It builds a culture of dependence, much more dangerous than whether a child has a profile on a social network.
The example of Iceland is indicative - 20 years ago, the country had some of the highest rates of alcohol and tobacco use among adolescents in Europe. Instead of banning it, the government invested in free sports and cultural activities, building clubs, support for parents and educational programs. Today, Iceland is among the countries with the lowest levels of addiction and violence among children. This is the true result of a policy that chooses opportunity over punishment.
- Who and how will control the ban on children from social networks?
- This difficult task is practically assigned to teachers. Just imagine - a teacher has to take away a tenth grader's phone while teaching, and at the same time maintain discipline, respect and motivation in the class. This creates additional tension and conflict, instead of trust and cooperation.
Teachers are not controllers, they are educators and leaders. Involving them in the role of “guardians of the ban“ only deepens the distance between them and the students. Before we move towards controls and bans, we need to prepare children how to use social media responsibly – what to share, how to protect themselves from manipulation and how to recognize online violence.
This, of course, requires much more effort than issuing a single order. It requires time, resources, training and trust. Teachers cannot be left alone in this battle – they need support, modern educational tools and partnership with parents.
There is a hidden war in many classrooms today – between rules and reality.
Children feel misunderstood, parents feel blamed, and teachers feel powerless. Such an environment does not create respect. If we want change, we need to restore dialogue between everyone - not impose bans, but build trust.
- There is no country in Europe that has completely banned children's access to social networks, but that's what we want. Are we innovators?
- No, we are not innovators. Rather, this shows the state's powerlessness to deal with the problems at school, which are much deeper than phones and social networks.
When a society cannot build a stable educational and social environment, it seeks salvation in bans. But the truth is that no European country has taken this path.
Each year, huge funds are poured into education in Bulgaria - from the state budget and from European programs. And yet the result often remains unnoticed. Children are overworked, teachers - exhausted, and school increasingly resembles a place that prepares them for the real world.
In Finland, for example, the education system is developing in a completely different direction. From kindergarten, children there are taught how the Internet works, how to distinguish fake news and how to use technology wisely.
Information technology, programming and digital culture are part of the learning process from a very early age. Programs are updated every ten years to reflect changes in the world, and the state works in partnership with teachers, universities, non-governmental and private organizations that create new resources and training. Finland has not achieved its success through bans, but through systematically building skills and confidence in children. This is a model of trust and cooperation.
- And let's talk about an extremely important topic - violence between children. What is at the root of this problem?
- In the last few days, seven children have lost their lives. Three children died on the road. Another child became a murderer in a mall. A father beats his 16-year-old daughter with a wooden stick. A student stabs his classmate in a metropolitan school. In Burgas - triple murder, among the victims is a 13-year-old child.
These are not just tragedies, but a public diagnosis. They show how the system that is supposed to protect children is actually losing them.
For decades, public services - education, justice, child health and social protection - have been working without a common vision. For the sixth year now, Bulgaria has not had a National Strategy for Children that would set a framework for joint work between these institutions. Instead, each sector acts separately, within its own rules and regulations, without a common direction.
Politicians are afraid to stand behind such a strategy - lest they be accused of "someone will take our children". But the result is that we simply lose them.
Responsibility is shifted between institutions, and most often - onto parents. And who helps parents in this complex and confusing system?
Behind the "system" stand specific adults, shaped by this same environment. School and kindergarten are not just a place for knowledge - there we learn how to live, how to get along and how to build relationships. You can be a caring parent, but if society is not safe, even the best care is not enough.
The subject "Religion" will not save us, nor formal lessons in morality.
Only social-emotional learning - the ability to understand, empathize and respect others - can build a society in which children live, not die.
- 95% of child perpetrators of violence have been victims of violence. Is it an automatic reaction to be a bully?
- Yes. Our children grow up in an environment where violence is often a part of everyday life - in the family, at school, on the Internet. We cannot expect them to react differently if they are not taught how to recognize and manage their emotions.
Both children who perpetrate violence and those who experience it suffer equally. Both groups need support, understanding and the opportunity to learn how to communicate without aggression.
- Globally, boys between the ages of 11 and 15 are starting to fight less and less, and in our country the opposite trend is present. Do they want to become “men” faster?
- Yes, that's right. In many countries, education systems have been focusing on socio-emotional learning for years - the ability of children to understand their feelings, manage anger, communicate calmly and resolve conflicts without violence. The basics of non-violent communication, health and civic education are taught in kindergartens, and school consistently works to develop empathy and respect. When a boy grows up in an environment where the ability to listen to others is valued, he simply doesn't need to prove his strength with his fists.
In our country, unfortunately, these topics are almost absent from the curriculum.
No subject teaches children how to deal with conflicts, how to recognize their emotions, or how to seek help.
When education does not provide such tools, children "learn" them in another way - through the model they see around them: aggression, mockery, demonstration of force.
The problem is also exacerbated by wrong decisions - such as banning phones or formally introducing the subject of "Religion" in the hope that this will reduce aggression. There is no evidence that prayers or religious rituals reduce violence. On the contrary - this can open up a new field of confrontation between children and parents themselves.
This does not happen simply with new objects, but with a new attitude towards childhood and humanity.
- How big is the problem with online violence in our country?
- According to the latest INHOPE report for 2024, in just one year, hotlines around the world registered over 2.5 million images and videos of sexual violence against children – an increase of over 200% compared to 2023. Of these, more than 1.6 million were discovered and reported thanks to the work of the Bulgarian Safer Internet Center, which is part of the global INHOPE network.
The most shocking thing is that 93% of the victims are children between 3 and 13 years old, and 99% of them are girls.
Bulgaria is now in fourth place in the world in terms of the volume of hosted child pornography – after the Netherlands, the US and Slovakia.
These are not just numbers. These are real children whose images are spread daily on the internet.
The problem is exacerbated by the lack of government support – the Bulgarian Safer Internet Centre operates with almost no government funding, despite doing critical work in detecting crimes, supporting victims and educating on digital safety.
If we want to protect our children, we need to start here – from the real dangers, not from symbolic bans.