Published on 12, July, 2020
I see that goverment are seriously thinking of banning smart phones and social media for under 16's.
Do you think its a good idea?
What are the positives and negatives of such a ban?
Would it work?
Would people binge on their 16th birthday?
How would verification work, what form should or would it take?
I feel mixed personally I think the stuff people can see from such a young age is shocking, or for someone of any age for that matter! But there are positives too, if you live somewhere rural and can be a few miles away from where your friends live or you have close family a way away from you, then social media must be great.
Personally I'm quite anti-social and curmudgeonly and dont' use it or a smart phone, I don't do groups etc, but if I feel mixed about it then I think young people must be really confused, and probably angry and frightened too.
I don't think the "rise" in mental health issues in young people are soley down to social media, when I worked as a young peoples counsellor it was at a shocking level then, the numbers of sucidal thoughts, self harm, eating disorders, bullyiing, abuse both in and out of the home, services were barely coping and that was long before austerity cuts took most services away. I think that issues with mental health are coming home to roost rather than increasing, I think they're just being recognised for the massive issue they are and have been for decades because they can no longer be ignored. I think banning social media is seen as a quick fix, another way for people to stick their heads in the sand in the hope that everything will get better.
I do think it's a good idea - in my opinion, social media is evil. It's bad enough dealing with bullying in the "real" world, without having it online too, where I believe people are more inclined to be unpleasant as it feels more anonymous.
Dumb phones are fine for kids - they can still keep in touch by calls or texts. It would be better if they had a proper keyboard for texting though.
I don’t even agree with giving children dumb phones either, as the negative effects on children’s brains from dumb phones is well documented, yet this research by real experts in the field has been suppressed and has been kept from most people, precisely because it is the truth and when it has surfaced, it has been dismissed and derided as “conspiracy theory” which I have discovered for myself before Covid, having been a supporter of the truth and patriot movement for a long time - I’ve always thought it odd that this technology was given out to the masses in the 1980’s and made widely available (the only real barrier being costs) without any sort of licence system being put in place nor any sorts of restrictions on who gets access to such technology, especially as we know that the children of the elites are not allowed any access to this technology below the age of 21 by thier parents