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This promises to be an interesting conversation!
Social media has changed our lives so much over the past 15 years or so…for better or worse. And it’s kind of hard to imagine what it was like before we were all so connected to each other.
But does it have a negative effect on young kids?
And should kids be banned from social media until they’re 16-years-old?
AskReddit users debated this question…
1. Not good.
“I myself have felt the negative effects social media has had on my life steadily over the last few years, and it isn’t good.
Shorter attention spans, more irritable attitude, and increased anxiety are just a few of the effects social media has caused.
These are not things we should be subjecting still developing minds to.”
2. Hard to enforce.
“Parents should just make sure that their kid doesn’t get on social media too early and too often.
Banning them won’t work because you can always put a different age.”
3. A different approach.
“Approaches such as education, rehabilitation, and regulation are always more effective than prohibition.”
4. Find a solution.
“Instead of just banning it completely from people under 16 wouldn’t it be better to find an actual solution so they don’t get exposed to the negative parts?
It’s like blowing up your house after finding out that you have bugs instead of contacting pest control.
Also you’d pretty much defund a lot of social media’s since they get 90% of their funding from users under 16. And not just the company but hard working developers who got families to feed.”
5. The ugly truth.
“The negative effects are gonna happen one way or the other.
Start early to stay ahead of the curve, or shelter them, keep them blissfully ignorant, and when they become adults, they’ll have zero experience vs life.
Social media reveals the ugly truth about humanity, and gives you a head start on understanding and counteracting them.”
6. Scary stuff.
“It’s odd how when I grew up there was so much importance on ‘stranger danger’ yet now kids are literally exploiting themselves and their locations on social media unknowingly.
Not only that, but also seeing how social media impacts a persons sense of self-value at any age let alone as an adolescent is scary. I’m so glad it didn’t exist until I reached my 20s.”
7. Different for everyone.
“I don’t know about this, social media clearly impacts different people in different ways.
There are definitely a ton of potential issues that can come with social media, but they don’t impact everybody.”
8. Might be the right age.
“By the time you’re 16, most teens are capable of thinking abstractly, dealing with several concepts at the same time, and imagining the consequences of their actions
Once you’re past 16 years of age, the parts of your brain social media has the most influence on are also basically done developing, I believe.”
9. What’s the big deal?
“I have had no problems because of social media and I have used it almost daily since I was 12.
I really don’t understand how other people get depressed over it.”
10. Helps some kids out.
“Even though there is something to agree with here, social media can also can be good for younger teenagers who can’t socialize easily or at all with people in real life.”
11. An interesting take.
“I was bullied in first grade all the way until high school third grade meaning I almost had no friends until the age of 17.
The only friends I had were Facebook friends that I met from the few anime groups the site had I learned English so fluently thanks to those ınteractions.
And I wasn’t completly depressed thanks to those friends. Does social media need better filtering and more protections? Yes.
Should it be banned for kids. No! We are moving towards a digital age and it’d be only natural to grow children in a tech savvy envoirment so they can become a more useful member to today’s society.”
12. Make it higher.
“Why 16? Why not 21?
If the justification for no alcohol in the US until you’re 21 is that you have a developing brain and alcohol can damage that, then the same applies to social media which is known to create depression and anxiety – which involves damage to the hippocampus.”
What do you think about this?
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