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Teen social media use: Why banning isn’t the answer

By, Anne Collier
Oct 01, 2024 10:11 AM IST

This article is authored by Ranjana Kumari, director, Centre for Social Research, New Delhi and Anne Collier, global expert on Online Trust & Safety.

The debate around whether we should ban access to social media for teenagers aged 13 to 16 has gained significant attention. While banning access might seem like a straightforward solution to protect young minds from harmful content, we believe an outright ban could do more harm than good. A ban would likely push many young people’s online activities underground, making it harder for parents and authorities to guide responsible use. It would also bar teens from the positive pursuits they enjoy. Instead, a more nuanced approach is necessary—one that supports family communication, upholds children’s rights, and encourages active collaboration among parents, platforms and governments in making the online environment safe for teens.

A teenager using social media. (REUTERS)
A teenager using social media. (REUTERS)

Banning things often has the opposite effect for adolescents, for whom taking and assessing risks, exploring identity and finding their feet among peers and in the world are developmental norms. Banning the social tools our very social children love can also have the effect of harming the parent-child communication that research has found to be key to their online safety. Supervision without communication fuels rebellion in a world where it’s all too easy for youth to hide their activities from adults monitoring them, by, for example, setting up secret accounts, using fake identities and VPNs, or accessing regulated, unsafe corners of the internet, potentially increasing their exposure to harmful content rather than reducing it.

What’s more, banning teens from social media denies them the opportunity to learn how to navigate the digital world responsibly. Social media is a significant part of modern communication, and teens need to develop digital literacy skills, including how to recognise misinformation, avoid dangerous interactions, and use the platforms in a healthy way. Instead of shielding them completely, we should be preparing them to handle the challenges of the digital age with guidance and education.

Rather than an outright ban, a more effective solution is to empower parents to make informed decisions regarding their children’s social media usage. We can do that by:

Easing rather than fuelling parents’ fear of an unknown that is less so than they think. We can help them see that social media is not a whole new universe that’s just about technology – that social media is primarily social – a part of life that parents have helped their children navigate for eons.

Encouraging the parent-child communication that both increases both mutual trust and mutual learning. Both life literacy and tech literacy are needed to navigate our networked world, and parents and children can fill in each other’s literacy gaps aided by genuine curiosity, open-mindedness and patience.

Understanding that each child is different – children are not all equally vulnerable online – and parents are better positioned than governments to assess their child’s maturity, emotional readiness, and ability to handle social pressures and risks associated with social media.

Empowered with that awareness, families will be able to have open conversations about all the important issues and challenge children deserve to have aired in safe contexts, including cyberbullying and social pressure by peers, inappropriate content and overtures, the rabbit holes of recommendation algorithms, and the addictive nature of infinite scrolling of videos. With the right communication, parents can guide their children toward healthier tech use, ensuring that they are aware of what to so do when they encounter content that upsets them. Depending on trust and maturity levels that only parents can discern, implementing parental control tools and setting limits on screen time can also be practical ways to strike a balance between allowing access and ensuring safety.

While parents have a key role to play, the responsibility for children’s online safety cannot rest solely on their shoulders. Governments and tech companies must also take responsibility for protecting teens from harmful content. Tech companies, in particular, should be held accountable for the algorithms they use, which often prioritise engagement over well-being. Recommendation algorithms can push harmful or unwanted content into young users’ media feeds, reinforcing negative behaviours, unrealistic body images, or risky trends.

Governments should implement stronger regulations to ensure that social media platforms are not allowed to expose teenagers to harmful content. Regulation is needed to protect children’s privacy, limit the collection of their data and stop its sale to third parties, expose and control data brokers’ practices. Transparency should be required of all tech companies affecting children, not just the largest, most visible and well-resourced ones – transparency in the use of algorithms in recommending and moderating content, monitoring user activity, handling reports of harm, and securing privacy. Stricter controls on targeted advertising for young users should also be considered, ensuring that teens aren’t constantly bombarded with inappropriate or harmful ads.

Additionally, platforms should be required to develop and improve their content moderation systems, using advanced Artificial Intelligence (AI) and human oversight to filter out harmful content more effectively. Rather than relying on parents alone to manage these risks, it is essential that tech companies create a safer digital environment through responsible design, monitoring, and response to reports of harm from helping NGOs, law enforcement and users themselves.

The key to protecting teens from the harmful aspects of social media is not to ban access entirely but to adopt a more balanced and collaborative approach. Parents, governments, and tech companies each have a role to play in ensuring that teens can use social media in a safe and responsible manner.

By empowering parents to make informed decisions, holding tech companies accountable, and regulating harmful [business] practices, we can create a healthier digital environment that encourages responsible social media use among teens and upholds their rights. Instead of sending them underground, let’s focus on fostering transparency, education, and communication – all of which advance trust – to help teens navigate the digital world safely and competently.

This article is authored by Ranjana Kumari, director, Centre for Social Research, New Delhi and Anne Collier, global expert on Online Trust & Safety.

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