Heather du Plessis-Allan: There's a strong case for regulating social media for kids

I'm fascinated by the fact that around the world, there seems to be a growing acceptance from parents that we have got to limit kids’ access to social media.

There's a poll out of Australia today showing more than two thirds of voters over there support raising the minimum age of social media from 13 to 16.

And this comes off the back of the Australian Government and the UK Government and various states in the US all trying to figure out how to force the social media companies to stick to the rules and make sure there are no under-13s using the platforms.

I was at my brother and sister-in-law’s place yesterday, they've got a pre-teen boy. And my sister-in-law was saying they really want to limit his access to screens, but all his friends have access - so it's hard to keep him off.

And this is where a rule like a minimum age of 13, or even 16, is so important.

I generally don’t like regulation, generally I'm going to say no unless there is a really strong case for it. And I reckon there is a strong case for this one.

Parents don't really need the regulation, because parents can keep the kids off - and better parents will be better at it than others.

But peer pressure is a real problem. And it would be so much easier if it's just the rule for all the kids below a certain age.

And more importantly, it is doing the kids a favour. Yesterday, both my sister-in-law and I agreed we're going to read Jonathan Haidt's latest book - The Anxious Generation.

He reckons the spike in mental health problems that we’re seeing in kids at the moment is because of the mass adoption of smartphones and social media.

Because as adults, you and I can look at social media and tell ourselves that it’s just one picture - and the tanned supermodel by the pool in Fiji still has to deal with all of life’s challenges like you and I.

But kids can’t understand that. They look at it, they compare their lives to the pictures, and
it makes them anxious and depressed.

So I guess I'm one of those parents. Because I reckon we raise the social media age and then enforce it.

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