SA yet to decide as global teen social media bans gain momentum
With more countries banning social media for Under-16s, local organisations think SA should adopt the same stance
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While several countries have banned the use of social media for teenagers, it is unclear if South Africa will adopt the same stance.
According to AFP, Singapore is set to impose a stricter ban on smartphones and smart watches at high schools as part of a global push to combat digital distractions, while Australia is the latest country to impose a social media ban for Under-16s.
Unpacking its plans to ban teens from social media, the Australian government said from December 10, at least 350,000 Instagram accounts from children aged 13 - 15 will be impacted.
AFP noted that Facebook's parent company, Meta, has already started deactivating accounts of younger users.
Other countries that have taken a similar stance are Malaysia, France, Denmark, Norway, Greece, the United Kingdom, Germany, the United States, Italy and South Korea.
Meanwhile, back home Childline KZN agrees that while the idea is an excellent one, implementation might be a problem.
Speaking to IOL, Childline KZN director Adeshini Naicker, said it would be difficult to verify ages.
"Currently many sites ask for age but very rarely verify it. We have to ensure children’s rights are not being violated in any way," she said.
Naicker said while the organisation may not outright endorse a ban, it would support tighter regulations on platforms, meaningful age verification, a reduction in harm for children and a safer design for younger users.
"In other words we would likely be in favour of stronger protections, but not necessarily a full ban unless it was proven to be the most effective way to keep kids safe," Naicker said.
Smartphone Free Childhood South Africa is further calling on the government and schools to ban smartphone access to children under the age of 16.
Kate Farina, head of strategy at SFC-SA, argues that delaying access protects mental health and safeguards children from the risks of grooming, sextortion, and exposure to harmful content that contributes to South Africa’s gender-based-violence crisis.
The advocacy group argued that unsupervised access to these devices expose children to sexual content, aggression and acceptance and cyber-harassment.
"A UNICEF survey found that among South African children aged 9-17, 70% use the internet without parental consent, 25 % have added unknown contacts, and 67% of those exposed to sexual images encountered them online" said SFC-SA's head of strategy, Kate Farina.
"When we limit early smartphone access, we are directly reducing the exposure to the very content that feeds into the building blocks of GBV. It’s an act of upstream prevention that policy and institutional- as well as parental action can enforce," she said.
While there is no official communication from national government on plans to follow the route of other countries, KwaZulu-Natal Health MEC, Nomagugu Simelane has noted concerns around the effects that social media has on children.
"Our children become severely affected by social media. You realise that as parents, we take it for granted, thinking ‘it’s just a phone.’
"But you find cases whereby a child may take their own life, only to find that it’s due to the pressure that they had put themselves under, based on what they see on social media, she said, speaking during a recent episode of her department's Health Chat broadcast.
IOL recently reported that 95% of children in Grades 4 to 11 (ages 10 to 17) have regular internet access, and 83% of 12-year-olds already possess at least one social media account.
IOL