Ban on Social Media for Under 18s

In relation to attention spans, any screen time does that. Not only social media

How would it be implemented? A passport photo could be an older sibling/ friend etc. We can't even stop under 18's drinking and smoking under our noses let alone put in place restricictions on companys who as mentioned are a world onto themselves right now and can be acccessed anywhere.

The Irish solution always seems to be to ban stuff. Fairly laughable, just sweep it under the carpet like it doesn't exist ! BTW Social media is generally just shite anyway IMO.

Crushing conformity?? Have you seen the get up of some of the kids going around these days. I don’t think kids have ever been more individual and non conformist. Would lgbt trans movements and all of that freedom of thought and expression ever have come about without social media? Has its negatives alright but really I think parental and personal responsibility is what should be the controlling influence as well as the companies themselves being better at banning and removing bully’s and predatory elements using the platforms.

Absolutely.. we(as adults) have no idea what the kids are getting up to. We can kid ourselves all we like and keep burying our heads in the 'sand'. Hoping and wishing that when they are constantly on their phones, that it is for the better and that our kids are being educated in a good respectful way.. but this is not the case.. the non functioning and laziness it brings to children is absolutely shocking.

Way too late for this, at least 5 years too late and lockdowns just pushed more kids to these platforms as they were a means of remaining in contact and engaging/gaming with friends.

"Would you support a ban on the use of public social media e.g. TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat etc for people under the age of 18?"

Might be better to ban over 18's

There's an issue when you have multi billion dollar companies employing every resource at their disposal to get kids (and adults) hooked on social media. They know what, and more importantly how, people think and use that knowledge to keep them addicted their pestilential websites. There doesn't seem to be anything that can be done about it other than the usual vague bleating about "mental health" etc. these companies have woven themselves so deeply into the day to day life of so many people while not seeming to care much about their wellbeing, rather they are concerned that you come back again and again. I'd like them restricted at a structural level, reduce the number of features these websites can actually display for people under a certain age, but that ain't happening. Hopefully they'll just keep getting more gross and superficial that people realise they suck and stop using them.

Issues like those in the opening post were around before mainstream social media was. You had magazines, tv, music, word of mouth (gossip). There was still plenty of bullying and nothing done about it, issues with body image and diet culture and comparison with other people and their lives and popularity.

Banning social media for under 18s makes it more desirable, brings it underground where there is less monitoring or regulation. Consumption of alcohol and cigarettes is already banned for under 18 - how many of us here had our first drink or smoke before 18?

That's not realistic though, because irresponsible parents who give in to their kids every desire put pressure on all parents by extension. First it's a handful of kids that have it, then the next parent rolls over until your kid is the only one in class who doesn't have it.

It's very difficult to be a responsible parent without making your child the odd one out which can impact a child's mental health.

Sometimes banning is worth while. It would be difficult to achieve.

Would it be legal ? Probably not.

would it be practical to restrict ? No.

parents just need to parent… but as we know that’s not exactly in fashion these days…too much effort.