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 agree with banning social media as it's an hostile environment and I don't think young people should use it before they're ready as they are very young and impressionable. But I think banning phones for younger people is a mistake because it's a way of keeping in touch with people R.E. texting and allows them to call somebody in an emergency...something that hopefully is never needed, but on the occasions it is it could mean the difference between someone living and dying.Also, children and teenagers can access Childline via their phones and that's a resource many find extremely useful. I used it when I was 15 and continued until I was 19 and then I had to stop. It was a good resource, I miss it.
But yeah, social media needs to be banned for anyone who isn't an adult. It's such a bad place to be, speaking mainly of the main social media such as FB and X. Social media should be a lot better than it is but it's unpoliced and literally a platform for a lot of people to say and do whatever they want to...with no consequences. I had a little brother who was bullied on there for years and he suffered mentally because of it and attempted to take his own life. He's luckily safe and well now but he no longer uses social media and is happier for it.I avoid the big social sites but hope this site will be a better more friendly one to be part of.
Yes, I agree phone is necessary, but social media is evil. I used FB during my studies because we had a group there where we shared our projects and it was really helpful. One picture, click upload, share and done. But after graduation I happily removed myself from there. I saw the pictures other shared mostly photos with pig noses or rabbit ears, thousands of same photos in same poses and photos of food etc. boring and dumb is understatement. But I guess this is how NTs happily show off. This is not even the worst thing. The worst thing is that young people who may look for friendships in the internet are more naive and there is higher risk of them becoming victims of various forms of abuse. And here again autistic teens are at much higher risk, but not only them. It’s general.