Italy opens its first center for social media addiction It's called Discover, it will be based in Florence and will welcome young people aged 10 to 25

Board games, hands-on activities, outdoor sports, and a counseling service: this is the therapy Italy has chosen for the most contemporary of addictions. It's called Discover - Fuori dal guscio and it is the first Italian center specializing in digital addiction, set to open in Florence right after the summer, in the spaces of the Biblioteca Chiarugi in San Salvi. The agreement was signed on July 21 by ASL Toscana Centro, the City of Florence, and the social cooperative Retesviluppo. It targets young people aged 10 to 25 the age group that perhaps more than any other has seen its relationship with the digital world deteriorate since Covid.

Educating rather than banning

Discover will be established as an educational space, with a program that includes sessions with specialists, guidance pathways, and workshops dedicated to media education  a discipline that teaches critical use of communication tools and how to properly interpret digital content. Group experiences, outdoor activities, and hands-on projects are also planned, with the aim of bringing young people back to socializing without the need for a screen.

In cases of isolation or psychological distress, the ASL will step in, activating specialists available in the area. The center will not impose bans, but will instead focus on two tools: guided disconnection and education in the conscious use of technology, with the ambition of moving young people from the role of passive consumers to that of masters of their own time helping them balance the time spent online with everything they could be doing away from screens.

Digital Addiction Centers around the world

The center's focus doesn't stop with young people alone. Parents, educators, and coaches will have access to dedicated training sessions on digital babysitting, addressing critical issues such as the habit of parking young children in front of a screen to keep them quiet, or sharenting  the tendency of parents to post their children's lives on social media.

What's happening in Florence is new for Italy, but similar institutions have already been operating around the world for some time. One example is the National Center for Youth Internet Addiction Treatment in Muju, three hours south of Seoul, where young people — referred by schools and families  give up their devices for a period ranging from two to four weeks and fill their days with sports activities, workshops, and psychological counseling.

Even closer in spirit to Discover's principles, the metropolitan government of Seoul has operated I Will Centers since 2007 spaces dedicated to addressing this addiction well before it spirals out of control, through counseling pathways that involve parents as well, group activities, experiences in nature, and mentoring programs that can last up to a year.

What other countries Are Doing

The Italian approach seems almost against the grain compared to that of other countries, which appear to favor bans over education on the issue. The United Kingdom put forward on July 15 the idea of switching off social media at night for 16- and 17-year-olds, a proposal that has already drawn considerable criticism regarding its actual usefulness. On Tuesday, France became the first EU country to ban social media for under-15s, with a measure that will come into effect this coming September. Spain, Greece, Sweden, and Slovenia are moving in the same direction, while Australia, Indonesia, and Brazil have blocked access to social media for those under sixteen.

It's hard to predict whether a single facility in Florence will be able to contain a phenomenon that elsewhere requires national legislation, but the Discover initiative is already a positive sign: it means Italy is beginning to address a problem that is, unfortunately, increasingly widespread.