Media noise points to youth gangs as the enemy, but the real problem is structural. Thousands of teenagers in marginalized neighborhoods grow up with chronic unemployment and school dropout as their horizon. It's easy to sound the alarm now that prevention programs, educational leisure, and family support have been dismantled. The solution is not more tough-on-crime measures, but rather recovering open centers and vocational training.
Technology as a mirage: without a network, there is no way out 🛠️
While kids are being demonized, the resources that could redirect them are being cut. An open center with youth mediators costs less than a surveillance device. Accessible vocational training, with workshops in digital or technical trades, offers a real alternative to the void. Without investment in social infrastructure, the only network they find is their phone and the corner group. It's not a technical failure; it's a political failure.
Magic solution: close centers and open police stations 🚔
The formula is simple: we cut everything that works, wait for the problem to explode, and then we wring our hands. Like turning off the router to fix a virus. If instead of raising the alarm we invested in mediators, we would have fewer talk shows and more solutions. But of course, it's easier to blame the phone than to admit that the system has failed them from the start.