Liberals back under 16 social media ban

At the annual Liberal party convention, delegates recently voted in favour of banning social media and AI chatbots for those under 16.

Last December, Australia became the first country to pass a law enforcing age limits on social media accounts. However, other countries like France, the United Kingdom, Denmark and now Canada are having discussions about following suit.

A recent study has shown mixed results since the ban took effect in Australia. Forty-three per cent of parents reported seeing more in-person social interactions from their children, 38 per cent said their children are more present and engaged during interactions and 38 per cent reported an improved relationship with their child.

However, 27 per cent of parents also noticed that their children were able to still access some social media sites and 25 per cent observed a reduction in their child’s social connection.

There have also been reports of youth being able to change the age on some platforms without verification, allowing them to report their age as older than 16.

The federal government plans to introduce an online harms bill and is consulting with an expert advisory group on what the legislation should look like.

Jack Veitch, manager of community engagement and education for the Canadian Mental Health Association, Haliburton, Kawartha, Pine Ridge, said it’s not a clear-cut answer to know if banning social media would really be beneficial for youth mental health.

He finds the biggest con of social media, and any sort of screen time, is when it’s used in excessive amounts. “Canadian youth have the highest screen time of any age group and so what we see is that youth aged 16 to 24, if they spend more than seven hours a day on screens, they’re far more likely to have reported symptoms of anxiety, depression or even thoughts of suicide.”

A recent Statistics Canada study found that 61 per cent of Canadians aged 12-17 engaged in social media several times a day.

Veitch also points to how technology had introduced a new way of bullying. While historically, bullying has been essentially tied to a venue, now it travels. Previously if someone was bullied at school, when they left school, the bullying would stop. “With cyber bullying the venue sort of travels with the individual,” said Veitch.

However, with social media there are some positive sides as well. Notably, Veitch finds it beneficial that youth are able to connect with others easily with social media. “You can imagine those that grow up in very rural or isolated communities. For myself, I grew up on a farm. I couldn’t just walk to my neighbor’s house knock on the door to go play ball or hang out, but if I think of now, I can FaceTime and connect. I can chat really quickly.”

Veitch said that while implementing a full social ban might not be the best answer, a lot of changes could come from parent having real conversations with their kids about social media and their mental health.

“The best thing (a parent) can do is have a space where their child feels like they can come and talk to them and tell them what’s going on, and they can share and engage, and have open and honest guidelines and approaches to screen time and social media and online activity.”