Australia, which is one of the world’s richest and most developed countries, has just presented a law in parliament that will ban children under 16 from using social media. The law must affect platforms such as TikTok, Facebook, Snapchat, Reddit, X and Instagram could face fines of up to 50 million Australian dollars for systematic failures to prevent children under 16 from creating accounts. The law has broad political support, and when it is expected to be passed, the platforms will have one year to implement the age restriction. One of the reasons why the Australian government wants an age restriction is because of harmful content, as two thirds of 14-17 year olds in Australia have seen “extremely harmful content online”, including substance abuse, suicide, self-harm and violent material. A study carried out by the analysis institute Epinion shows that three out of four children between the ages of 9 and 14 in Denmark have seen unpleasant content on the internet and social media. The Australian law is designed in such a way that there will be no exceptions – even if parents wish to give consent for their children to have a presence on social media.
The profile maximization of the tech giants is far ahead of legislation
At present, neither the government nor the Danish Parliament have plans to implement legislation on the same level as Australia, but Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has expressed strong skepticism several times in recent months about both the scope and content of children’s use of social media. So far, however, this has only resulted in statements such as: “While the tech giants have grown into large, world-dominating companies, the rules and political demands we set have not been followed”. However, in my opinion, the biggest threats to children and youth (mis)use of social media must be found in the fact that 2/3 of Danish children in 4th grade have their phone as their preferred leisure activity after school and that time alone with the screen is a more preferred activity than being with friends, participating in sports or spending time with family.
Overprotection in the real world and without protection in the virtual world
The exponentially growing screen use among children all over the world – and thus also in Denmark – is described and discussed in an excellent way by the American social psychologist Jonathan Haidt in the book “The Anxious Generation”. Haidt distinguishes between “the real world”, where relationships between people and social interactions are characterized by four features that have been typical for millennia. They are corporeal – i.e. we communicate using the body and we react to other bodies, both consciously and unconsciously. They are synchronous – i.e. that they take place at the same time. They primarily involve one-to-one or one-to-many communication with only one interaction at a given moment. And finally, they take place within a community that has a high threshold for entry and exit, so that people are strongly motivated to invest in relationships and repair breaks and conflicts when they occur. In the past two decades, the “virtual world” has been established, where relationships between people and social interactions have the following features. They are bodiless – i.e. the body is not “necessary”, only language. The parties can also be – and already are – artificial intelligences (AI). They are highly asynchronous and take place via text-based posts. They involve a large number of one-to-many messages – i.e. broadcasting to a potentially huge audience. And finally, they take place within communities that have a low threshold for entry and exit, so that you can block others or simply leave the community when you are dissatisfied. The communities will therefore often be short-lived and the relationships unstable. Haidt documents through biological, psychological and social science research and empirical studies that overprotection in the real world and underprotection in the virtual world are the primary reasons why children born after 1995 have become “the anxious generation”. A generation where far too many children and young people are affected by dissatisfaction, self-harm, anxiety and depression. And where far too many children’s everyday lives are characterized by parents and other well-intentioned adults – teachers and sports coaches – who monitor every single aspect of the children’s time – “just” not the scope and content on the smartphone or iPad.
More free play at school and club … without mobile phones
Physical play, outdoors and with other children of different ages, is the most natural and educational play for children. Play with a certain degree of physical risk is essential so that the child learns to take care of himself and each other. Children can only learn to avoid getting hurt in situations where it is possible to get hurt. It can, for example, be climbing trees, balancing on scaffolding or playing ball with children who are faster or stronger than themselves. The most important message, however, is that when parents, teachers and coaches get involved, it usually becomes less free, less playful and less educational than when children play freely without adults and without mobile phones. As a rule, adults cannot help but direct and protect. Sports can be a fantastic arena for children and youths learning and development, but the majority of children’s and youth’s free time must take place in the “real world”, which is physical, synchronous, one-to-one or one-to-many and in groups or communities where there is a certain cost to participating or leaving and where it is required to invest in the relationships. The alternative will be a generation that, also as young people and adults, has extremely limited physical skills and a lack of social skills in relation to relationships and interaction with others.
Sources:
Jonathan Haidt: The Anxious Generation – How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Cousing on an Epidemic of Mental Illness (Penguin LLC US, 2024).
“Australia passes world-first law banning under-16s from social media despite safety concerns” (The Guardian, 28.11.2024).
