The hypocrisy of blaming apps for youth crime

It is easier to point at technology than to look at social reality. Every time a young person commits a crime, the accusing finger quickly points at apps. But the real problem is not a screen, but the lack of opportunities, poverty, and inequality that push these adolescents to seek desperate outlets. Criminalizing software prevents us from confronting real exclusion.

Teenager in a torn hoodie sitting on cracked concrete stairs, holding a smartphone with a broken screen, in the background a dusty job offer sign and an abandoned factory, elongated shadows of adults pointing from afar, their fingers pointing at the phone while ignoring the visual poverty of the environment, realistic cinematic style, grayish industrial sunset lighting, worn graffiti textures, contrast between the cold glow of the screen and the rough texture of the brick, composition with depth of field, high-contrast documentary photography.

Technology as a mirror, not a cause 🤔

Apps are nothing more than neutral tools. A knife does not cook by itself, nor does a social network commit crimes on its own. The root of the conflict lies in the absence of public policies that offer quality education, youth employment, and community support networks. Investing in digital surveillance without addressing precariousness is like putting a band-aid on a bullet wound. The technical solution lies in designing systems that integrate, not that surveil.

How to blame your phone for the dinner you didn't have 🍽️

It is almost poetic: we prefer to install control software on our neighbor's cell phone rather than ask ourselves why they have nothing to eat. Meanwhile, some politician proposes banning TikTok to reduce robberies, as if thieves were going to say: Oh, no, without the app I don't know how to steal. Next time, they might blame the calculator for bad budgets. Less digital smoke and more bread on the table.