Whether we should legislate to regulate social media use by kids?
In recent years, social media has become a part of almost everyone’s life, even for children. Beginning with the COVID-19 pandemic, media devices and Internet access increased rapidly. During the “lock-down” period, the use of the Internet enabled children to continue activities such as communicating with peers and teaching at school. People are gradually starting to realize that social media has a lot of negative effects on children. There has also been a great deal of controversy about whether legislation should be introduced to regulate children’s use of social media. It depends on a variety of factors, such as potential harm, privacy concerns and the balance between freedom and protection. Many advocate measures to protect children online, while others favor education and parental guidance over strict legislation.
The Protecting Youth from Social Media Addiction Act — Senate Bill 976, written by East Bay Democratic state Senator Nancy Skinner — would set certain defaults on a child’s social media settings.
The bill would prohibit social media platforms from sending what Skinner called “an addictive social media feed” to children without parental consent. It would also bar notifications from midnight to 6 a.m. and during school hours without a parent’s consent.
Personally, I think it is necessary for the legislature to step in appropriately to regulate the use of social media by kids.
Social media threatens the physical and mental health of children
First, unregulated social media use would threaten children’s physical health. Using social media before bedtime may disrupt sleep patterns, leading to sleep deprivation and related health problems such as fatigue, mood disorders vision loss. Children are in a period of physical development and a healthy body is important to them.
Second, social media platforms can be a breeding ground for cyber bullying. Many people use the mask of the internet to unleash unbridled stress and malice that is hard to get out in real life. Children who are still establishing their values may be harassed, threatened or humiliated online, leading to psychological stress and even physical symptoms.
Finally, social media may negatively impact a child’s body image and self-esteem. Exposure to idealized or unrealistic body images on social media can lead to body dissatisfaction and low self-esteem, especially among teens, who may compare themselves to heavily edited or filtered images.
Protections and restrictions on children by social media companies are just a formality
Social media platforms geared toward children are adding more and more parental controls as child safety faces increasing scrutiny.
Meta launched a parental monitoring tool last year that lets parents set time limits to see who their kids are following or being followed by, and allows them to track how much time minors spend on Instagram. It doesn’t allow parents to see the content of messages. But with the feature being optional, both the child and the parent must agree to use it. To get kids to agree to set controls, Instagram sends notifications to teens after they block someone, encouraging them to let their parents “monitor” their accounts. The idea is to get kids’ attention when they’re more open to parental guidance.
By making the feature optional, Meta says it’s trying to “balance the safety and autonomy of teens” and facilitate conversations between parents and kids. These features are useful for families where parents are already involved in their children’s online lives and activities. However, for many, this is not a reality.
On the other hand, many websites with child-threatening content do not have a way to verify the authenticity of a visitor’s age. Sometimes age disclaimer will be poped up when we are browsing the web or social media. It only allows you to continue browsing if you click “Yes, I’m over 18”. However, no one will click “no”. And no one will check if you are really over 18. In this case, children is not protected.
Overall, the protections that social media companies can generate for children are very limited. They are almost entirely by virtue of people volunteering. It is necessary for the legislature to put policies in place to help keep children safe on social media.
Intervention of the legislature to regulate does not mean that children’s freedom is restricted
One of the aims of legislation is to strike a balance between protecting children from harmful or inappropriate content while allowing them access to information and the freedom to express themselves within appropriate boundaries. Regulations focus on ensuring that content is age-appropriate, promoting digital literacy, protecting children’s privacy and online safety. While regulations may impose certain restrictions, they generally aim to create a safer online environment for children that is more conducive to healthy exploration and learning.
The refinement of the law is never an easy road. It requires constant polishing. With the rapidly changing features of the Internet, the relevant laws need to be updated and improved more frequently. Legislation is just the first step on this road. I believe that as long as people continue to pay attention, do not hesitate to put forward their suggestions and call for the improvement of the relevant laws, children will be able to live in harmony with social media in a healthy environment.
