Redaccion
The challenge ‘Supér@te’ seeks the digital well-being of young people and raises awareness about screen and social media addictions
The Botín Foundation has hosted the presentation of the solidarity challenge ‘Supér@te’ this Friday, in which the Cantabrian athlete Borja Ortiz will attempt to complete a 100-kilometer paddle surf journey between Bilbao (Guggenheim Museum) and Santander (Centro Botín).
This challenge will take place on a summer day when appropriate weather and sea conditions are met.
The President of Cantabria, María José Sáenz de Buruaga, attended the event, showing support for the challenge aimed at promoting the digital well-being of young people and raising awareness in society about the issues of screen and social media addiction.
Buruaga congratulated Borja Ortiz and the collaborating entities (Nuevo Futuro, Proyecto Hombre, and Obsession) for aligning around an initiative that is a «step forward» in addressing a reality that particularly affects young people and offering them a way out through sports.
She mentioned that we are currently witnessing an «almost invasive» technological evolution that offers a world of great opportunities but also brings with it «a series of risks» related to mental health, social isolation, exposure to inappropriate content, cyberbullying, or addiction to social media and mobile phones, especially among teenagers.
The President called for «full awareness» of this issue and to «take action at all levels»: institutional, family, social, and personal.
In this sense, she highlighted some of the «pioneering» measures that Cantabria is implementing in the educational field, such as regulating the use of screens and digital devices in schools.
She also praised the specific program for prevention and treatment of disorders related to technology misuse launched by the Marqués de Valdecilla University Hospital; the initiative of the Cantabrian School of Health to promote responsible internet and social media use among young people; the campaign by the General Youth Directorate to prevent digital threats, and the new Cantabria Cybersecurity Center, inaugurated just this week.
She emphasized the need to address this phenomenon comprehensively, applauding both the promoters’ involvement in this initiative and the example of effort and overcoming, values inherent in sports, represented by Cantabrian Olympic champions Jan Abascal, Diego Botín, and Ruth Beitia, who are ambassadors of the project.
Finally, the Head of the Government wished Borja García good luck and conveyed all of Cantabria’s encouragement to help him overcome this new challenge.
Also present were former President of Cantabria, José Joaquín Martínez Sieso; the President of the Port Authority, César Díaz; the Sports Councilor of Santander, Beatriz Pellón; the Manager of Nuevo Futuro, Marta González, and the Director of Proyecto Hombre Cantabria, Eloísa Velarde, in addition to Borja Ortiz himself.
At the end of the event, a round table discussion on screen addiction in minors was held, with the participation of the Education Councilor, Sergio Silva; the Head of Psychiatry Service at Valdecilla, Jesús Artal, and Ainoa González, a general health psychologist and addiction master’s degree holder.
THE INITIATIVE
NGOs Nuevo Futuro and Proyecto Hombre, together with Obsession and Borja Ortiz, have joined forces to draw attention to the issues of technology use and its relationship with cyberbullying, addiction to social media, video games, or online games.
Likewise, it aims to promote protective mechanisms for young people in a completely digital environment.
This Cantabrian athlete has achievements such as swimming crossings between Castro Urdiales and Santander (54 km and 15 hours), and between the Cantabrian capital and San Vicente de la Barquera (54 km and 18 hours), or the double everesting in Los Machucos (ascending and descending the mountain pass 26 times consecutively to complete a total of 390 km and 19,100 m of positive elevation in 51 hours).
