The debate of what to do with social media and youngsters continues. Towards the end of last year we chatted about the Government of Spain cracking down on social media restrictions, however not as harsh as Australia. We were wrong.
In January of this year, the President Pedro Sánchez, announced Spain was heading towards a blanket ban on all social media platforms for under 16 year olds, as Australia did.
This has not been established just yet, but is definitely in the works. This will mean no child of or under the age 16 will have access to social media and will be unable to have an account. There will be an efficient age verification process when registering on the apps, e.g, Instagram ,Facebook, X (formerly known as Twitter), TikTok, Snapchat, Reddit, Youtube, Threads, and streaming platforms such as Twitch.
These new laws are being put into place to protect children and young teenagers from harmful, toxic, and inappropriate content. However, this decision does not come without backlash. Children under the age 12 start creating social media accounts and a sudden removal of this ‘right’ and freedom will not go unnoticed.
What is more astonishing is children from the age of two are able to use phones and have everyday access to screens since the day they are born. Some kids may not be on their Instagram everyday but do have access to similar content on other more ‘innocent’ platforms like Youtube. The government does have a point. The internet is becoming an even more dangerous and serious place. The recent Louis Theroux Netflix documentary explores the ‘Manosphere’, the group of male influencers spreading misogynistic ideas and videos to their millions of viewers, who are in their majority, young boys. This made many parents fear what their children watch as there seems to be no limit or restrictions once you are online.
On another note, social media is not the only place children and teens consume ‘screen time’. Video games are a massive time consumer for youngsters. Roblox, Call of Duty, Clash of Cans are some of the most popular games, causing many young people to lack socialising, communication and worsen their mental health long-term.
Overall, as always, the vast internet is difficult to control. Parents are struggling to keep up with their kids’ content and screen time. Is the government correct in choosing to tighten restrictions or are they a little too strict?
We chatted about this topic on last week’s show:
