To help find a solution to improve the negative impact of online spaces on children, youth advocates at last week’s Social Media Summit amplified their calls for social media bans.
The timing of the summit, jointly hosted by the NSW and South Australian governments, marked the first anniversary of the controversial phone ban in NSW state schools, with the state’s Premier Chris Minns saying, despite initial backlash from students, the “natural experiment” of removing the distraction of a mobile phone had provided “overwhelming evidence” about the initiative’s positive impact on students.
Minns told the summit’s attendees that NSW teachers had reported a reduction in behavioural issues among students, less bullying and higher attendance rates.
He also pointed to a school in Blacktown that was also reporting an extra 50 minutes of learning each day.
Minns said parents, teachers and the government were all committed to creating a safer online environment for younger people.
“If we think about the life they’re currently living, that fear is completely understandable,” he said.
“We can in a democracy take the best of technology while reserving space for other things, important things … like human connection.
“We cannot and we should not outsource these questions to unelected billionaires living in silicon valley.
“Our first responsibility should be to do no harm.”
No social media for under-16s
Professor of psychology at San Diego State University in the US and keynote speaker Jean Twenge supported the idea that children under 16 should be banned from social media.
Twenge believes children between 13 and 15 are the most vulnerable and encouraged parents to delay access to smartphones.
“Technology isn’t all bad, smartphones are amazing, but they need to be a tool that we use and are not using us,” Twenge told the audience.
Twenge drew on new data that showed “heavy” users of social media were up to 200 per cent more depressed than “light” users.
“That doesn’t strike me as small,” Twenge said.
Adolescent psychologist Michael Carr-Gregg described a “seismic” decline in children’s mental health since social media had left its mark on young children’s lives.
Carr-Gregg said the “simply frightening” statistics included nine-month waiting lists for children to see a psychologist, as well as an unprecedented number of children being prescribed medication.
He joined the call for implementing social media restrictions for under-13s.
“Social media is the great envy amplifier, it gives our children the highlight reels of others’ lives and makes them feel inadequate,” Carr-Gregg said.
“We know you wouldn’t hand them keys to a car so why are we providing the unfettered access to a digital world.”
Vulnerability can happen at any age
But NSW chief psychiatrist Murray Wright highlighted the reminder that anyone can be vulnerable when accessing social media.
“I don’t think that vulnerability stops at 16,” Wright said.
“People can go through levels of vulnerability throughout their lives.
“Looking at an age where it becomes less risky, it can obscure the fact and it’s dangerous potentially for all of us.
“I’m apprehensive to draw simple conclusions from complex data.
“We need to pay close attention to other factors.”
Australia’s eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant said it was also important states worked with the federal government to get parents and teachers involved in providing solutions that help kids experience greater online safety.
“It’s about putting boots on the ground in (providing) eSafety champions in every school and getting the information into the hands of parents and teachers,” Inman Grant said, adding that, instead of a slow-moving safety evolution, we needed ” a safety revolution”.
