Bill on digital devices in the first three years of life presented in the Senate

A story not carried in the morning edition, where the Italy section was occupied by the extension of border controls. The topic here is parliamentary and has a feature rare in this legislature: a text signed by groups that vote in opposite ways on almost everything else.

The bill was presented in the Senate on 23 July 2026 on the initiative of Senator Simona Malpezzi, together with the Italian Society of Pediatrics and the Terre des Hommes Italia Foundation (ANSA, Fondazione Terre des Hommes Italia). The text is co-signed by lawmakers from all groups, from Fratelli d’Italia to Alleanza Verdi e Sinistra.

The content is more procedural than the headline suggests, and it is worth reading it for what it actually provides.

First: within six months of entry into force, the ministries of Health, Education and Family should adopt national guidelines based on scientific evidence. The guidelines should indicate the absence of exposure to digital devices under 36 months and set maximum daily times for age groups up to 18 years.

Second: the text provides for the inclusion of modules on the impact of digital technologies in pre-birth preparation courses and the distribution of informational materials at family counseling centers and maternity units.

Third: it provides for the establishment, at the Ministry of Health, of a permanent national technical panel dedicated to the digital health of minors.

The structure is therefore that of a delegating and directive law: it contains no sanctioned prohibitions, but assigns the administration the task of drafting recommendations and organizing the channel through which to bring them to families. The point of contact chosen is significant — pre-birth courses, family counseling centers, maternity units — because it identifies the moment when the healthcare system meets parents before the problem arises.

On the scientific merits, this newspaper takes no position and reports no clinical guidance: the available sources account for the presentation of the bill and the positions of its proponents, not the studies on which the text says it intends to base itself. The formula used in the bill — guidelines “based on scientific evidence” — refers to preparatory work that will have to be carried out by the ministries, and it will be that work, not the law, that contains the substantive indications. According to Senator Malpezzi, the first signatory, the principle to be established is that “from 0 to 36 months there must be no exposure to digital devices”: this is the proponent’s position, reported as such (Tgcom24).

The president of the Italian Society of Pediatrics, Rino Agostiniani, framed the issue around timing of introduction rather than the tool itself, speaking of the need to “avoid it being introduced too early.” This too is the position of a scientific society, not a conclusion of this newspaper.

What remains is the political fact, which is the most solid one. The parliamentary process is at an early stage and must still go through committee examination: this means that the text, as it stands today, produces no effect and may be amended in every part. A proposal co-signed by all groups starts with an advantage on the floor, but a cross-party signature on a text of principle is easier to obtain than scheduling. The first concrete indicator will be assignment to the competent committee and the setting of a review calendar: without that step, the six months provided for the guidelines do not begin to run.