U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley recently introduced a bill to ban children under 16 years old from using social media.  The legislation, entitled the “Making Age-Verification Technology Uniform, Robust, and Effective (MATURE) Act,” would require media companies to not allow a person to make an account unless the platform verifies the user is at least 16 years old. 

Hawley’s bill would also fund a longitudinal study to track the effect of social media over 10 years. 

The proposed legislation follows a study released last month found that social media use might affect youth brain development. Surgeon General Vivek Murphy also said last month that 13-year-olds were too young to join social media, arguing that they do a “disservice” to adolescents who are just developing their identities.

While that discussion plays out, here is what some Brevard County experts are saying:

Christina Dornton, Licensed Mental Health Counselor, Children’s Advocacy Center of Brevard

In a 2018 Pew Research survey, teens were split on whether social media had a mostly positive or mostly negative effect on their lives. The noted positive elements included social media’s role in connecting them with friends and family, easy access to news and information, and meeting others with similar interests. The noted negative effects included bullying, lack of in-person contact, and unrealistic views of others’ lives.

Most social media sites and apps (including Facebook, SnapChat, Twitter, Instagram) require users to be at least 13 years old, though it is not uncommon for youths to be untruthful about their date of birth to gain access to the site or app. By accessing these platforms before age 13, young children are at an increased risk of encountering inappropriate content and/or contact from older users.

From Pew:  

• 37% of teens feel pressured to post content that will get a lot of likes on social media.
• 45% of teens feel overwhelmed by drama on social media.
• About 70% of teens associate their social media use with positive emotions such as feeling included and confident.

I think there are benefits to allowing youth to connect online with peers locally and from across the world to open up their experiences in a healthy way. I know youth who become interested in other countries, cultures, or music that they may not have been exposed to if not for the ability to be online. I don’t think social media is inherently bad, but it can be used by some in an unhealthy or even abusive manner.

My concern is for youth vulnerable to cyberbullying, sexual exploitation, or sextortion. Between 2019 and 2021, the number of reports involving sextortion more than doubled. In earlier analysis, the dominant motive of offenders was to get more explicit images of a child, but in reports from early 2022, 79% of the offenders were seeking money. We need to educate parents and the youth about these dangers so they can have a plan of how to act if something like that happens. (statistics from the NCMEC website https://www.missingkids.org/netsmartz/topics/sextortion)

Bottom line: Youth are going to use social media whether there are bans or restrictions in place or not. Parents and the youth should be educated on how to be safe online and have honest conversations about the negative things that can happen online.  

Keri Parker, Registered Mental Health Counselor Intern Clinician, Lifetime Counselor Center

With the increase in technology over the past few decades, the debate about children’s access to social media and screen time have been widely debated, with most parents having their individual preferences. Some parents choose to utilize phones indiscriminately for their children, allowing them access to social media with no parental intervention or monitoring.

Some choose to allow their kids to have phones for safety communication reasons but control their access to social media and online features. Some have encouraged their children’s use of social media for financial gain, creating content for followers and “sponsors.”

However, over the decades we have also seen negative effects in children using social media. What was a technological convenience to be able to access and communicate more often despite someone’s location have turned into an additional avenue for bullying.

When children used to be able to have a break from school culture, they now have continuous, 24/7 access to each other socially. The repercussions of this constant connection include depression, anxiety, self-harm, and suicide. Despite adults attempting to create school and legislative policy to create change in this epidemic, the concern still grows.

Recently, discussion about age limits for social media being enforced by the software creators themselves have been discussed. This seems the next logical step in policy change, although some argue it is too extreme. The reality is that kids were able to cope and preoccupy themselves before smart phones were created. Just because the technology exists does not mean kids need to have it. Finding the balance in ever-changing and advancing technology while still maintaining healthy coping and emotional regulation is becoming the current obstacle. Parents establishing the boundaries and implementing non-electronic coping skills is the essential solution. While rules may change, if a parent still chooses that they want their child to have social media to help promote their own business and success, the parent can create the profile and be responsible for monitoring it.

Kristina Talbot, Owner/Founder, ARISE Mental Health Counseling, Melbourne

It is good to see that steps are being taken to raise awareness about the risk involved with young people on social media.  For many years, it was difficult to get information to parents about the potential dangers and we simply did not know the impacts on brain development.  Unfortunately, companies have made it difficult for parents to restrict and monitor their child’s usage with so many ways to get around the restrictions.  While legislation is one way to address this issue, each parent also has things they can do with or without new laws.  

• Parents can implement screen time limits to monitor and restrict access to unapproved apps
• Parents should always have passwords to access their child’s social media account at any time in order to monitor who they are following and who is following them.
• Parents can give all household screens a ‘curfew’ by collecting devices at a designated time each night to help support healthy sleep habits.
• Parents can designate ‘screen zones’ in their home where devices are used in a visible place and restricted from private use in bedrooms.

Ultimately, social media is here to stay and an on-going conversation with our children is the best approach.  Providing information about the permanency of images as well as the exponential impact of shared images and their potential to be passed on far beyond the intended audience is necessary information. 

It is essential that parents connect to sources of information like the Wait until 8th group on Facebook and Instagram which advocates for parents to wait at least until 8th grade for children to be given a smart phone and 16 until they are given social media.  These types of informative sites can equip parents with the information they need to make informed decisions about what restrictions and levels of monitoring is necessary in their household which may look different for each child.