Australia has already banned social media for youth under 16 (https://tinyurl.com/5n6pemw9). Canada is contemplating this drastic action. Some provinces seem to be pushing for such federal ban, including Manitoba and New Brunswick.
There is an Arabic proverb that goes like this: “Al mamnouw marghoub”. This means “Everything that is forbidden is desired”. With the latter wisdom in mind, banning social media for youth under 16 may not be a wise action by our governments. So why are some even pushing to expand the ban to 17 years old or to even ban teachers from using YouTube in the classroom (https://tinyurl.com/yc3yhjnd)?
Indeed, this ban can perhaps lead to consequences that are more harmful for adolescents. They might feel infantilized, with a denied age-appropriate autonomy, at a time of their lives when they are learning how to transition from childhood to adulthood. With this ban, could some of them seek to explore digital alternatives that can be even riskier than social media?
So instead of drastic governmental legislation related to social media, why don’t we rely on solutions based on education and on fostering critical thinking? Why don’t we trust families as being the first—and ultimate—experts of both their own lives and the lives of their children? Why don’t parents, along with educators, teach youth to learn how to be more responsible and to develop their own critical thinking? Providing young people with tools to critically evaluate information, and to use their internet time in a more balanced way, might perhaps work better than bans.
As far as younger children are concerned, of course it is a different story than teenagers. Of note, some companies already restrict the use for younger potential users to age 13 (https://tinyurl.com/4j2z9e3d). Maybe such measure is not enough in some cases? Maybe people find a way around it? And we sadly know that abuses can and do happen online (and in real life) and we know about their tragic outcomes.
To conclude this post, Bambi who is quite far from her own adolescence (and not on social media herself) is observing once again a sad tendency of (some) governments to tell their citizens, adults and youth, how to live.
