Update: Australia has now voted to ban social media use by children under the age of 16. In a 9to5Mac reader poll on the issue, the vast majority of you thought the US should do the same – see the end of the piece.
The impact of social media use by kids is perhaps one of the hottest topics in tech. There’s significant evidence that social media apps like Instagram can be harmful to the mental health of children, while others argue that it can also enable social connection.
It’s long been established that teenage mental health has dramatically declined over the past decade or so, and that there is at least a correlation with social media usage.
The CDC’s bi-annual Youth Risk Behavior Survey showed that most teen girls (57%) now say that they experience persistent sadness or hopelessness (up from 36% in 2011), and 30% of teen girls now say that they have seriously considered suicide (up from 19% in 2011). Boys are doing badly too, but their rates of depression and anxiety are not as high, and their increases since 2011 are smaller.
Numerous studies have attempted to determine whether there is a causal link with increased use of social media apps, and one academic who reviewed the evidence said the answer is now clearly yes.
A lot of new work has been published since 2019, and there has been a recent and surprising convergence among the leading opponents in the debate […] There is now a great deal of evidence that social media is a substantial cause, not just a tiny correlate, of depression and anxiety, and therefore of behaviors related to depression and anxiety, including self-harm and suicide.
The American Psychological Association (APA) last year advised parents to monitor and manage social media usage by children up to 14 years of age.
Hundreds of lawsuits have also been brought against social media companies for deliberately seeking to get teens addicted to their apps.
Apple CEO Tim Cook is among those who have expressed concern about the potential harm technology can do to mental health.
Australia debating a ban for under 16s
Associated Press reports that the Australian government is debating a ban.
Australia’s communications minister introduced a world-first law into Parliament on Thursday that would ban children under 16 from social media, saying online safety was one of parents’ toughest challenges.
Michelle Rowland said TikTok, Facebook, Snapchat, Reddit, X and Instagram were among the platforms that would face fines of up to 50 million Australian dollars ($33 million) for systemic failures to prevent young children from holding accounts […]
“For too many young Australians, social media can be harmful,” Rowland said. “Almost two-thirds of 14- to 17-years-old Australians have viewed extremely harmful content online including drug abuse, suicide or self-harm as well as violent material. One quarter have been exposed to content promoting unsafe eating habits.”
Messaging and gaming platforms would be excluded from the ban.
What’s your view?
Is banning social media usage by children under 16 a good idea? Should there be controls which stop short of a ban, such as a requirement for parental consent?
Please take our poll, and share your thoughts in the comments.
Update: At the time of writing, our poll revealed that 69% of readers think we should “absolutely” do the same, and a further 18% thought we should “probably” do so. Only 9% were opposed.
Photo: Paul Hanaoka/Unsplash
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