The number of young people registered in the Balearic Islands but residing abroad has steadily increased in recent years. According to data included in the 2025 Balearic Islands Youth Yearbook, this year there were 13,330 young people between the ages of 15 and 34 registered in the Balearic Islands but living elsewhere, a figure that almost triples the number recorded in 2009, when there were 3,409 (+291%). The increase is also very significant when compared to 2015, when 6,425 young people were in this situation. The sustained growth of this indicator points to a possible exodus of educated young people abroad, in a context that, paradoxically, shows a recovery in the demographic weight of the young population in the Islands. In fact, the Yearbook confirms that the young population is growing again after years of a downward trend. Young people up to 34 years old currently represent 24% of the total population. For the first time, municipalities like Palma and Manacor have exceeded 20% young population, while no municipality now has less than 12%, demonstrating a more homogeneous territorial distribution of young people.

The Government views favorably the proposal of the Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, to prohibit access to social networks for minors under 16 years of ageAccording to a statement made this Tuesday by the Minister of Education and Universities, Antoni Vera, the government is committed to implementing a ban on mobile phones on screens in the Balearic Islands. Vera emphasized the importance of establishing clear mechanisms for the measure to be effectively applied in the islands. He stated that he was "in complete agreement" with the measure and reiterated the government's hope that the situation would not repeat itself, as with the mobile phone ban, which was left to regional regulations after its national approval, and which the Balearic Islands had ultimately implemented through a specific order. The minister explained that the government wants to see how the new legal proposal will be processed and implemented, as well as how it can be applied in the islands, stressing the importance of having clear mechanisms for its implementation within the territory.

She also highlighted other initiatives already implemented in the Balearic Islands along these lines, such as the ban on digital screens up to the fourth grade of primary school and the launch of an awareness campaign for families about the risks of the "harmful overuse" of digital devices, which will be rolled out in the coming months. Despite her positive assessment, Vera considered the announcement to be "just another smokescreen" by President Sánchez, since the People's Party had already submitted an amendment to the law on the protection of minors in digital environments to propose a similar ban. Sánchez made the announcement during his speech at the World Government Summit in Dubai, where he indicated that the government will approve the measure next week in the Council of Ministers. The proposal includes, among other things, requiring platforms to implement effective age verification systems and creating a tracking and tracing system to combat hateful and illegal content. It will also address potential legal violations by platforms such as Grok, TikTok, and Instagram.

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On this straight, arrow-shaped line that is life, any invitation to stop and look back becomes a disturbing experience. We rush so fast toward the future that we forget it's with that same speed that we move away from the present and leave the past behind. And I no longer know if it's deliberate: to avoid having time to consider whether we've made a mistake, because we don't know exactly who we are or what we want, for fear of having taken the wrong shortcut at some point and not knowing how to retrace our steps. Or perhaps this is the only pace to get there. The fact is, at least for me, my relationship with time is becoming increasingly dysfunctional.

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Real life can be very much like a movie. Sometimes, it even seems like time goes in slow motion. One of these cinematic moments is when two people start running from two different points to meet and hug. This was the bread and butter of every summer when vacations arrived in times before cell phones and summer friends could go months—the entire school year—without knowing anything about each other. This was the childhood and adolescence of María de la Paz Janer (Palma, 1966), who arrived in Llubí every August, dazzling everyone. Her friend, Maria Llompart, tells us this, as she recalls how they would run to hug each other. "You'll be friends," her aunt, who lived across the street from María de la Paz's godmother's house, told them. She wasn't wrong.

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Housing, self-defense, solidarity with the Palestinian people, defense of the territory, and the wave of migration: these are the topics that Aplec Jove 2025 will focus on. Under the title 'Mallorca in Struggle,' the meeting, which will take place on August 30 at the Sineu Teleclub and will be open to the public, will focus on open access. "We have chosen this topic to trace a transversal route through some emerging and other established fronts in Mallorca," the meeting organizers explained in a statement. This is the fifth edition of the event, which has been held on the island every summer since 2021.

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