National proposes social media ban for under 16s

The Herald reports:

National MP Catherine Wedd is introducing a new member’s bill aiming to ban children under 16 from accessing social media platforms in New Zealand.

Wedd, MP for Tukituki in Hawke’s Bay, said the My Social Media Age-Appropriate Users Bill is about protecting the “most vulnerable young teenagers and children from the online harms of social media”. 

Wedd said social media was an “extraordinary resource” but it came with risks.

“Right now, we aren’t managing the risks for our young people well.”

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said the move was intended to protect young people from bullying, inappropriate content and social media addiction.

This addresses a genuine and serious problem. Social media use by young people has had some terrible outcomes in terms of bullying and also peer pressure around body size and shape.

This chart, via Maddy, shows a massive correlation (and no doubt causation).

So yes absolutely, having kids not able to use social media until they are 16 would be a good thing.

The challenge though is unintended consequences and definition.

A ban may make it more attractive to young NZers. They may be able to get around it easily. Parental supervision and involvement is preferable to legislation – however they are not an either/or choice.

And how do you define it. Would text messaging be captured? Group chats? Youtube? Do you name specific platforms?

So definitely worth supporting at first reading, but select committee would have a lot of work to do to see if it can be made workable, and that the benefits will be greater than the costs and unintended consequences.