A teenage take on social media horrors
Parents, students and experts have thrown their support behind a proposal to ban kids from social media. Under the proposal by South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas, children in the state under the age of 14 would be banned from holding social media accounts. Currently, many social media platforms require users to be at least 13. Year 8 student Max Ljungberg, 13, said he would be in favour of a ban on social media after he was bullied over Snapchat.
“I sent a normal snap of my face,” said Max, who attends a private school. But the response to the picture left Max not wanting to go to school the next day.
“Shut up”, “f--k you” and “what a loser” were among the comments made by fellow students.
“It makes me think about what might happen at school,” Max said. “I don’t understand why they do this.”
His father, Nick Ljungberg, who reported the incident to the school, said he was worried his son was “focusing more on social media rather than his homework”.
Mr Ljungberg, 51, said he was in favour of a ban for children under 14 but said it would be difficult as the medium is “the way they communicate”.
The school was contacted for comment.
Clinical psychologist Darryl Cross said it was clear that social media has “had a disastrous impact on our young people”.
He said he supports the Premier’s potential ban.