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How many parents would be comfortable sending their child to an intensive military-style camp run by ex-military to stop the teen’s smartphone addiction. Not many. In fact, China even banned such camps years ago because of their uninformed and inhumane approach. For a strategy to work it’s got to be based on evidence.
There have been many calls, by many governments, to get our teens away from the grips of social media. Biden has approved a potential ban on TikTok in USA citing teens’ addiction to the app as one of two reasons for it; the other reason being the collection of data by the Chinese based organisations who owns TikTok. The South Australian premier has also called for the banning of social media for children 14 years and younger, citing the need to protect children from the harmful impacts of social media on children’s mental health. Under the proposal, children aged 14 and 15 would require parental consent to access a social media account.
I research the impacts of social media from many perspectives because our use of it is impacted by so many factors. As part of this I talk to hundreds and hundreds of teens every year about their social media use so I am not guessing at what I think they do and how I think is the ways its impacting them. I collect evidence, that then informs new policy, and this is what I see.
While social media offers every idea possible our teens are caught in an echo chamber that they can’t escape from. Algorithms send content that they think we are interested in. However, algorithms on social media are now wound so tight now that we repeatedly see the same kinds of content. If a teen is fed content about sports betting, repeatedly, for months or years, then this idea becomes normalised for them and they think betting on sport is normal behaviour. Get delivered lots of misogynist content sent as funny videos, clever comments, sponsored content, influencers vying for shock content that goes viral, then their views on gender role will be impacted. We have seen this for example with influencer Andrew Tate and his popularly with teenagers audience. If multiple teens are seeing the same content in their social media feeds then the idea is confirmed and normalised even more. We have seen this ‘normal view’ played out in recent derogatory behaviour by high school boys of late.
We have also fallen into a repetitive rut of putting the mental health impact of social media down to FOMO about body comparison but its impact on our teens is much more powerful and hidden. The echo chamber a teen is trapped in impacts their goals, values, beliefs and views on the world. It impacts their decision-making, the ways they approach learning and how they see themselves in the world.
Social media notifications have also exceeded what anyone can handle, no matter what age you are. I even get notifications from platforms I don’t even have an account with now. Digital distraction is a massive issue which impacts our ability to focus, be creative and problem solve. A study from University of London shows that if we don’t manage digital distraction that our IQ drops by 10 points. That’s twice the impact that smoking marijuana has on our cognitive abilities.
On tip of this, the majority of social media content is, or will soon be AI generated. This means content will be generated even more excessively, notifications will become even more distracting, and that there is an even higher propensity for misinformation- even higher than we have experienced without AI on social media. This also means that a teens’ echo chamber will be even more fiercely be manipulated.
Banning might help but then when a teen turns 14, in the prime of their vulnerability as adolescents, they will be hit with the unbridled force of social media. I want to protect teens, but this isn’t the answer.
If we are to protect teens, and ourselves, from social media then advocating for the ability to reset our algorithms must be the number 1 strategy. This is not possible right now. The huge amount of data taken from us and sold for the profit of these companies means we are at their mercy, and what we see and how we understand the world is manipulated by them.
Sending children to army style camps to rid them of the evil of social media puts the onus on kids and that it is their fault. Social media companies are the ones we should be targeting, then all of us can breathe a bit more freely. Literally.
