Emma, Somerset Member of Youth Parliament, has been running a campaign on ‘Young People and Social Media’ and was interested in the social media ban for under 16s in Australia. She’s written a fantastic article on the topic, asking if the ban works or if it’ll make the problems worse.
Australia has led the way in the global political stage by banning social media for under 16s; this is a choice that has been welcomed due to its positive morals and attempt to help young people with their social media usage.
However many young people in Somerset that I have spoken to, through debates and conversation have concerns about the precedent that it sets for young people in terms of expression and self-identity, with many believing that it is an unrealistic target that will lead to more young people faking their age and not tackling the true problem at hand. And without social media, where will young people go and how safe, harmful or dangerous are the alternatives?
As a representative of young people, I am frustrated that the emphasis on social media usage has been placed onto young people and not the adults who control the harmful algorithms that cause the current stereotypes. Banning young people from social media suggests that we are not willing to try and evolve social media to be a force for good, instead we are completely removing it.
While I do believe more needs to be done to educate young people and adults on social media especially those in an educational setting, we cannot simply fix social media’s flaws by banning a select population from viewing it. Instead, we need to find its flaws and fix those fundamentally so that the social media platform is safer for all.
Throughout my campaign, I have emphasised how social media does have the potential to be a fantastic platform for self-expression and finding your identity, as shown by survey results. Young people use social media for such positive activities such as fashion, music, culture, science, literature and cooking.
I realise that social media comes with problems such as radicalisation and spreading fake news etc. We may hear about the harmful traits of social media and its impact on young people, but it doesn’t just affect young people. While age limits are very important, shouldn’t we try and instil good habits into young people’s social media usage instead of completely removing it? For example, Youth Parliament could not reach most of its audience as we rely on social media to spread news, contact other MYPs and to rally for change such as petitions for political literacy. And I ask the question, where do we draw the line?
Through the conduction of my survey, I found that most young people didn’t believe that adults understood social media enough to help them with their usage. We have to change the system and improve its flaws – not ignore them and stop young people using it!
Young people aren’t the problem with social media, stop acting like we are! Keep us safe. Help us improve.
Emma
Not just elected members
Did you know that Somerset Youth Parliament isn’t just it’s elected members? Any young person in Somerset aged 10-25 years can become a member of the Somerset Youth Parliament Advisory Group.
For more information about becoming a member of the Somerset Youth Parliament Advisory Group and to join, visit our Join Us page.
