The closure resulted in a 100% surge of children's use of smartphones

The closure of the home has resulted in a near 100% surge of children with the smartphone, according to Bosco app data that monitors the cellular activity of children and teens.
The app data, yesterday (Sunday, March 22) recorded an average of 8:40 hours per child per smartphone, which has become the almost single means of staying in touch with friends and spending time in the long hours of home. Some of its use time is spent on distance learning, but the vast majority of YouTube videos, wetsap groups, ticketing and video call apps.
The comparison with the Bosco app shows that a month ago, during the routine period at the end of February, the average cell phone usage was 4:30 hours a day. After graduation, he jumped for about six hours and now reaches an average of 8:40 hours.
The comparison also shows that the number of messages in the Wetsap groups for children jumped 5 times, while for teens 13 and over, 7.5 times the number of messages received before the Corona crisis was recorded.
According to Yanon Landenberg, director of the Bosco app, the good news for parents is that the amount of abusive conversations and shaming cases we are examining has diminished as part of the sense of cohesion between children. However, there is an increase in personal concerns and signs of distress and loss. The use of different messaging apps is rising sharply and with the use also the dangers of communicating with strangers.
As a result of the corona spread, a new Bosco Feature app has given parents a warning if it turns out their children have been physically close to diagnosed corona patients. The information is obtained in accordance with the monitoring of children's and youth movements and the crossing of the location and time data against the information published by the Ministry of Health. So far, parents of over 100 children have received this warning with a referral to the Ministry of Health's instructions on how to drive.
The Bosco app regularly monitors children's activity on the Wetsap groups and on Instagram and YouTube accounts. It includes means for identifying cases where children experience stress and anxiety through the use of words such as death, fear, corona, etc. in conversations with friends and group discussions or a sudden change in the child's normal voice. This information is also sent to parents and allows them to act and intervene if required. The parents who download the app to their device can know at any time where the child is, when a particular place has arrived or left and what percentage of remaining battery in the child's device so they know in advance if it is going to be turned off.
The app regularly monitors cases of offensive content such as revealing images, violent expressions, shaming and threats and calls about removing children from the group that may indicate an emergent boycott. At the end of each day, the parent receives the number of hours the child spends in front of the screen and specifically with Wetsap, YouTube, Ticketing and other popular apps so that he can handle if there is excessive use.
The Bosco app has half a million users worldwide, including 25,000 families in Israel. Its use has, among other things, been embedded in collaborations with the municipalities of Yokneam and Eilat, with the aim of reducing network violence and introducing rules for respectful discourse between the children and the youth.