More than 10 years ago, I filmed my kids for a report on the impact of screens on young minds.
My eldest daughter was six at the time, her twin sisters nearly three. They didn’t have their own devices – Instagram, Snapchat and YouTube were beyond their imagination.
TikTok hadn’t even been invented.
Yet now as teenagers their lives, like pretty much every other child we know, are dominated by social media. Snapchat is central to their social lives and TikTok is a go-to dopamine fix.
As parents we try our best to pry the devices out of their hands and limit their screen time. No surprise the idea of a government-mandated ban is popular with parents, less so with kids.
“We’ve been born into a world with social media so it’s a bit unfair if you just take it away from people who are younger,” said one of my 13-year-olds. Especially, she adds, “when they’re influenced by adults who are also on their phones.”
Fair point. But we’ve just about had enough of arguing with them about it.
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Now it looks like we’ve reached a point where the majority of people are starting to think the same.
France and Spain are promising laws to ban child access to social media as early as this year.
Austria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Italy and Slovenia have proposed similar legislation.
Portugal is considering parental consent for child social media access. Last month the Westminster government said it would consult on the issue of social media for the under-16s.
As a bloc, the EU has said it supports a Europe-wide ban.
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A tipping point?
So, have we finally reached a tipping point where social media companies will be forced to amend their products?
“We knew cigarettes were harmful and addictive and kill people for decades before we actually got legislation that made a difference,” said Clare Melford, chief executive of the Global Disinformation Index.
“Social-media companies have only been around for 15, 20 years. So it is relatively quick on a historical scale, but for those of us who have teenagers now, it’s not quick enough.”
White House backs Big Tech
A Big Tech-backing White House isn’t helping. US secretary of state Marco Rubio in December banned Ms Melford and three other European online safety campaigners from entering the US.
Another, a legal resident in New York, was threatened with deportation.
“I wasn’t surprised because we know the impact of Big Tech and big money on government in America and around the world,” said Imran Ahmed, the British boss of US-based Centre for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH).
“But of course, it was shocking as a family to be threatened with potential detention just for the things I said.”
Tech bros fight back
The tech bros are fighting back too. Elon Musk has been a target of European ire over allegedly extremist content on his platform and his Grok AI’s (now curtailed) “nudification” powers.
When Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez announced his social media ban earlier this month, Musk hit out.
“Dirty Sanchez,” he posted on X, the platform he owns. It is Mr Sanchez, not he, who is “the true fascist totalitarian” as well as “a tyrant and traitor to the people of Spain”.
But it would be wrong to think the White House and social media firms are in step with wider US public opinion.
US states back child social media bans
American parents are angry too and their elected representatives know it.
US states, like Mr Rubio’s Florida, have backed child social media bans. Regulations to protect kids online are gaining traction and rare bipartisan support in Congress.
In the absence of hope for federal restrictions, court cases, like one under way in California this week, centring on the “addictiveness” of apps, are also putting pressure on social media platforms.
If successful, it may even force them to amend their offerings to children.
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“From my perspective… we are further along in that battle than we ever have been,” said Mr Ahmed from the CCDH.
“I think that ultimately we will be able to renegotiate the toxic relationship that we have with tech, where they are exploiting rather than enriching our kids.”
It now looks like public opinion will ultimately force Big Tech to make social media a safer, better place for children.
But given the industry’s deep pockets and influence, I’m expecting to be arguing with my kids about their screens for a while yet.
