Penélope Cruz is once again opening up about her concerns surrounding children, smartphones and the growing influence of social media on young minds.
Speaking about today’s younger generation, the actress said children and teenagers are facing pressures far beyond what previous generations experienced growing up, describing social media as something that can deeply confuse young people while their identities and values are still developing.
“Well, I think in a way nowadays it can be even more challenging because the younger generations are being real victims of what is happening with social media,” she said.
“It’s like an experiment that is being done on them.”
According to Cruz, the systems behind social media platforms are intentionally designed to keep users engaged, with financial gain at the centre of it all.
“The people behind it know very well the result of that. So it’s an experiment that has an intention that is just related obviously to money,” she continued.
The actress added that children today are growing up in an environment very different from the one she experienced as a teenager, saying many of the messages shaping young people’s understanding of values and identity now come directly from social media.
“So they can confuse the young boys and girls of today very much because a lot of the messages about values to a lot of the kids today come from social media,” she said.
Cruz and husband Javier Bardem have previously shared that they prefer to keep their children away from smartphones and social media while they are still young.
The couple share son Leo, 14, and daughter Luna, 12, who reportedly still do not have phones or social media accounts.
In an earlier interview, Cruz described social media as “a cruel experiment” on children and teenagers, saying young minds are especially vulnerable to manipulation while their brains are still developing.
“It’s so easy to be manipulated, especially if you have a brain that is still forming,” she previously said.
Cruz also pointed out how different growing up looked for her own generation compared to children today, joking that many adults only learned how to use devices much later in life.
Her concerns reflect a growing conversation among parents, educators and mental health experts about the long-term effects of smartphones and social media on children and teenagers.
While technology has created new ways for young people to connect, learn and express themselves, many families are also becoming more cautious about how much access children should have and at what age.