Kareem Abdelhakim
Stories (1/0)
Why social media should be banned
There is no doubt that social media can be a very unhealthy and dangerous place. Even as a 19-year-old, I sometimes find myself being negatively impacted from what I have seen online. Therefore, I can only wonder what kind of negative effect social media can have on naïve, innocent, and vulnerable children.One of my worries about children and teenagers under the age of 18 consuming social media is that they are in the peak stages of learning. They have not fully matured and so cannot know of all the dangers of the internet. The lessons, experiences and environments we are in as children truly shape us as individuals, and I believe if children consume social media, it could create plenty of negative traits or issues that will stay with them for the rest of their lives.The rate for UK female suicides under 25 has ‘increased by 93.8% since 2012, to its highest level in 2019’, stated Samaritan’s 2019 suicide statistics. Furthermore, ‘In Scotland, the suicide rate among young people aged 15-24 increased by 52.7%. This is the highest it’s been since 2007.’ The positive correlation between suicide figures over the past few years and the usage of social media could be argued as just coincidence, but I believe there to be some aspect of causation.Social media is a construction. Every image and post uploaded has been carefully handpicked to create a façade of a ‘perfect’ life, and unfortunately many of the images we see are artificial. Photoshop and airbrushing are not only used by celebrities, but by the general public too, making it even harder to recognise what is real and what isn’t. Singers, actors and other influential figures that are idolised by the masses are teaching audiences an unrealistic beauty and body standard by promoting their photoshopped, surgically-altered bodies as ‘normal’ and ‘real’. This is a gateway to mental illnesses such as body dysmorphia, disordered eating and depression, and the general sense of not feeling good enough. Even as an adult, I sometimes find myself struggling to detach and not compare myself to people I see on social media, even though I know that it is not truly real. Consequently, I believe that if young people under the age of 18 grow up with social media, they will not only have a distorted view on beauty, they will also carry a heavy expectation of how they are supposed to look, act, dress and live their own livesMoreover, from the lack of regulation and monitoring of content, social media can be very dark, violent and sexualised. Images of terrorism, extremism and other violence are easily accessible on social media, and as an adult, if I see any content which is inappropriate or upsetting, I know how to report it and it would not affect me. However, if a young, impressionable child comes across aggressive behaviour online, it could leave a lasting impression. The psychologist Albert Bandura found that if younger children, particularly boys, are exposed to aggression, they are likely to imitate it.In addition, social media is a very sexualised place, varying from celebrities posting half naked photos of themselves to pornography. By law, you must be 18 years old to buy pornography or watch porn online. So why should you be able to get social media before 18?Not only is social media mentally damaging, it can be very dangerous. Every parent’s worst nightmare of a stranger talking to their child online can be made possible with social media. Children are taught to ‘not talk to strangers’ from a young age, but online it can be difficult to know if who you are talking to is who they say they are. The lack of policing on social media makes it very easy for people to lie about their age and identity online. Online predators or paedophiles can easily steal the identities of fellow classmates, teachers, or other trusted relations to groom children. Unfortunately, there have been many incidents involving children being groomed online by a stranger pretending to be someone else, which have resulted in rape or murder.Moreover, even if a child recognises the situation and takes action to protect themselves, they are never truly safe. Social media holds a variety of information varying from your home phone number to your address and which school you attend. I believe that children and teenagers below the age of 18 are not truly educated on the risks social media holds and are not informed enough on how to protect themselves. Therefore, I think banning social media for those under 18 is vital to protecting both their mental health and their lives.Before we dive into why social media should not be banned for people under the age of 18, we need some perspective on how popular social media is with young people in the UK. Research shows that 70% of children aged 12-15 in the UK are using at least one form of social media, such as Facebook, Snapchat and Instagram, according to a 2019 report published by Ofcom this year. However, this includes 12 year olds, which shouldn’t be possible due to the fact that most social media platforms have an age limit of 13. A case study published in 2017, conducted by Comres Global, showed that ‘among under-13s, 78% were using at least one social media network, despite being below the age requirement’. These figures suggest that children are willing to break age limits to access social media. Making the proposed solution of raising the age limit as an attempt to stop youth from being exposed to social media is not a very effective one.
By Kareem Abdelhakim 2 years ago in Humans