First published on 07/11/24

After hearing that the Australian government was banning under 16s from social media in a valid attempt to mitigate the “harm” it says it is causing children, I had a number of initial thoughts. In a perfect world, eridicating the thing which is causing the current problem makes a lot of sense, but thinking about it from a long term perspective, it feels like children will continue to face challenges online unless they learn how to navigate and manage them responsibly. And living in Wales, writing for WalesOnline, I had become intrinsically aware of how much social media is woven into the fabric of young people’s lives here.

Yes, social media can be highly problematic and super addictive. And there is harmful content which children should not be exposed to at such a young age. But I feel like keeping them from it altogether is just going to make the problem worse, and by making social media a forbidden fruit, instead of focusing on holding social media companies to account and putting harsher penalties in place for people who break the rules on what is and isn't appropriate to publish is just not the answer.

Surely it will only increase young people’s interest in it if anything, and it means they will not get the chance to familiarise themselves with how to use it safely and sensibly.

I didn’t go on social media until I was 17, partly because no-one else had it in my family and also because it was still in a weird era where teenagers were still into Facebook, communicated only via Snapchat form and people were posting every thought that came to mind on their Twitter feeds like their lives depended on it.

But did keeping off social media from a young age change how much I use it in my day-to-day life now? Not at all. And if anything, my understanding of social media and how best to use it, much like lots of other adults who are older and maybe didn’t grow up with it at all - would be stronger if we had been brought up using it more intentionally.

A brain expert, Dr Dean Burnett, who is a Welsh neuroscientist and author, interviewed a series of children for his book, 'Why Your Parents Are Hung-Up On Your Phone And What To Do About It’ and one of the key things he found was that children are not actually as bothered about phones and social media as we think they are.

He explained recently, when he spoke to WalesOnline about some of his research: "I've spoken to loads of children as part of my own research and their general attitudes to phone and social media are much less alarming than some people might think. Most of them, because they have grown up with it, are not overly obsessed with the concept of posting and being on it all the time. Lots of them just see it as part of life, so it's our job to help them use it in the best way.

“It is important to create an open and informed dialogue on these issues, and taking into account those diverse experiences and the needs of young people because not everyone is the same.”

I think the point that not everyone is the same and how it’s important to educate young people on how to navigate the world of social media is a huge one. In the UK, 24.3% of people use it for work, according to recent figures from Backlinko, a company which specialises in SEO.

This means that not only do we need to know how to adapt to social media from a personal point of view, and learn how to navigate friendships online, where lots of people choose to connect in day-to-day life. But from a workplace point of view, using social media effectively and professionally has never been more important.

You can read the full piece here.