Today begins in Madrid the eighth edition of The Pacifier, the First International Festival of Children's Communication. In its eighth edition it is celebrated in Madrid Callao cinemas during today and tomorrow, 5 & 6 of July. Its mission is to reward the best creative works aimed at children. This year the central theme is: The influence of Smartphones and tablets on children and adolescents.
This festival had been held in Valencia for seven consecutive years but, given the interest shown by other cities in hosting it, such as Córdoba, Bilbao and Madrid itself, it was decided to move this edition to Madrid. For this reason, for a few days we have been seeing their fascinating posters on all the marquees of the capital. In them we could see how a finger deformed the image of classic figures or paintings inserted in a smartphone or tablet when scrolling your touch screen. And this is the central theme of this Festival and what its cycle of conferences will be about, specifically how these new devices are affecting children and adolescents from a perspective social, cultural and educational.
In fact, El Chupete will reflect on the use of this technology, that is, where things are being done right, where wrong, and what promising horizons but also what risks these content consumption habits bring.
Through the smartphone and tablets, children and adolescents reach the contents that mediate their perception of the world. The idea of the digital native is illustrated in the following statistics regarding mobile devices:
65% of children between 8 and 12 years old are .
38% of children under the age of 13 have a smartphone.
40% of young people between 8 and 18 years old surf the internet on mobile devices.
And is that the native digitaHe will not be primarily sitting in front of a screen but will carry it in his pocket or backpack almost as an extension of his body. Although here there seems to be a segmentation of device types depending on age: children prefer tablets, teenagers prefer smartphones.
For the future a complex communicative scenario is drawn in which many agents will participate. Children in the first person, but also parents and educational centers. In this sense, the teaching staff and the means at their disposal will be essential. Of course they will also affect the content that is created for this stage of life. Because, The Pacifier this year it has included a new award called "Apps and mobile advertising actions”. This category will include all mobile advertising apps or actions that have served to disseminate or promote a product or service focused on children and adolescents.
Professionals and specialists from all over the world attend this festival and its journey has been a success so far. You can see his program on your website. We will be attentive to the winner in this new category.