Social regulation

Children struggling with existential angst or the realities of growing up are not helped by all-encompassing social media. Smartphones are the main platform for the most pervasive apps. The Government is now considering whether their sale to those under 16 should be banned.

The obvious flaw in this proposal is that most young people are bought smartphones by their parents, who would not be covered by such a prohibition. Some are suggesting that the only way to reduce access by under-16s to these devices would be to ban their possession, not just their sale.

That would open up the question of proof of age ID and would not prevent access to problematic social media sites since these are available on PCS, laptops and tablets, which would not be banned.

Many parents despair of what to do to prevent their children from being harmed by social media. If they deny their children a smartphone their offspring can feel they are missing out and may be ostracised by their peer groups. A ban would take away that decision and might make it easier to deny a child a phone.

The real issue is with social media giants like Meta who have done little to rein in their platforms despite promising to do so. Both Meta and Microsoft are said to be on the verge of releasing artificial intelligence (AI) models capable of reasoning and planning.

Do people have any say in this potentially epochchanging event, any more than we had in holding back the tide of ghastliness that is overwhelming our children through social media sites? We are not a newspaper that normally favours banning technological advances. But there comes a time when a pause is needed. We are there now.