{"id":76149,"date":"2025-03-12T01:00:51","date_gmt":"2025-03-12T05:00:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/world.edu\/?p=76149"},"modified":"2025-03-12T01:00:51","modified_gmt":"2025-03-12T05:00:51","slug":"panic-over-childrens-mobile-phone-use-distracts-from-the-help-young-people-actually-want","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/world.edu\/panic-over-childrens-mobile-phone-use-distracts-from-the-help-young-people-actually-want\/","title":{"rendered":"Panic over children\u2019s mobile phone use distracts from the help young people actually want"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

Should young teenagers be banned from using social media? That\u2019s the question being discussed by British MPs debating a bill<\/a>\u00a0that proposes the government should decide within a year whether to raise the age children can have social media accounts from 13 to 16. It follows\u00a0a recent petition<\/a>\u00a0on the same topic that garnered nearly 130,000 signatures, which also triggered a debate among MPs.<\/p>\n

Actually, MPs have been discussing this topic for a long time. The first mention of social media and harms to young people in the UK in Parliament\u00a0was in 2007<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Even back then, MPs were raising concerns about the ease with which children could access harmful material. They emphasised the need for parents to take responsibility for monitoring children\u2019s online activity.<\/p>\n

Two decades on and the themes have barely changed: concerns over young people being exposed to harmful content; the need for more to be done to protect children. But levels of fear are higher.<\/p>\n

In the recent parliamentary debate, MPs\u00a0voiced concerns<\/a>\u00a0about the rising rates of anxiety, depression, eating disorders and even suicide linked to excessive social media use among children.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat are the credible explanations for this phenomenon \u2014 for the worldwide explosion in adolescent mental health problems \u2014 if not social media and smartphone use?\u201d\u00a0asked MP Josh MacAlister<\/a>, who introduced the bill on children\u2019s safety online. But actually there\u00a0isn\u2019t consensus<\/a>\u00a0among experts on this topic\u00a0and evidence<\/a>\u00a0that social media use is causing mental health issues (rather than just being associated with them) is scant.<\/p>\n

I have\u00a0recently published a book<\/a>\u00a0reflecting upon my many years talking to young people about the use of digital technology and exploring the evidence base around online harms. It considers whether the direction that legislation and regulation is taking is in line with what young people call for.<\/p>\n

A central theme in this work is that emotion often outweighs evidence in decisions that affect children\u2019s rights and freedoms and how, in some cases, this can lead to young people becoming more vulnerable as a result.<\/p>\n

What children want<\/strong><\/h4>\n

The youth voice in these debates is often quickly dismissed by adults. In the debate held among MPs on the petition calling for social media accounts to be limited to 16-year-olds and over, Tony Vaughan MP said: \u201cWhen I asked my two boys, aged 14 and ten, whether social media should be banned for children, their answer was predictable: No \u2013 of course.\u201d (Many of the other MPs in the chamber also shouted: \u201cNo!\u201d)<\/p>\n

There was no follow up discussion around why his children thought this. Just a claim that adults disagree and want a ban.<\/p>\n

As I explore in my book, while young people rarely think bans are a good thing, they do call for better education. A common request I have heard from young people over many years is the importance of critical thinking on these issues. They want classes that go beyond telling them what is and is not illegal.<\/p>\n

They want to be able to ask questions about online harms, and get answers that are constructive and help them understand the risks. And they want to be confident that if something upsetting happens, there are adults they can talk to about it.<\/p>\n

They want more adults around them who are informed about online risks and how to mitigate them, and for adults not to \u201cfreak out\u201d when teenagers do want to talk about risks online.<\/p>\n

It is no surprise that data in my book shows that as young people move into their teenage years they become far less likely to speak to parents about online concerns and turn to their peers instead.<\/p>\n

Sometimes young people view adult approaches to \u201conline safety\u201d as more about control and an unwillingness to accept that young adults are growing up and needing independence.<\/p>\n

And while age limits around social media use are easy to propose, they are extremely difficult to implement. It\u2019s very tricky to find a way for a 16-year-old to verify their age, and these restrictions are often easy to bypass, too.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s more, prohibition isn\u2019t a quick fix. Many years of drugs prohibition have done\u00a0little to reduce<\/a>\u00a0the\u00a0personal and social harms<\/a>\u00a0that can arise from the use of illegal substances.<\/p>\n

But attending a recent meeting, when I commented on a news story on this topic, one of my colleagues, who accepted that prohibitive measures rarely work, said: \u201cWe need to do something because I can\u2019t get my daughter off her phone.\u201d<\/p>\n

It is completely understandable that adults are concerned about what young people are doing online, particularly when it is informed by a constant media narrative of harm. But it is crucial to understand that young people who appreciate the risks, and know they can get help if they are concerned about something online, are more likely to have positive online experiences than those who feel like they have to live their online experiences in secret.<\/p>\n

As we can see from the repetitive nature of these debates, if the same issues keep on arising and are not resolved, maybe it is time to consider a different approach. This should start with listening to young people.<\/p>\n

Author Bio:<\/strong> Andy Phippen is Professor of IT Ethics and Digital Rights at Bournemouth University<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Should young teenagers be banned from using social media? That\u2019s the question being discussed by British MPs debating a bill\u00a0that proposes the government should decide within a year whether to raise the age children can have social media accounts from 13 to 16. It follows\u00a0a recent petition\u00a0on the same topic that garnered nearly 130,000 signatures, […]\n… learn more→<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[95],"tags":[1507],"coauthors":[11733],"class_list":["post-76149","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-lifestyle","tag-social-media"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nPanic over children\u2019s mobile phone use distracts from the help young people actually want - World leading higher education information and services<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/world.edu\/panic-over-childrens-mobile-phone-use-distracts-from-the-help-young-people-actually-want\/\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Panic over children\u2019s mobile phone use distracts from the help young people actually want - World leading higher education information and services\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Should young teenagers be banned from using social media? 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