Q&A of the Day – Should Florida Ban Social Media For Kids Under 16?
Each day I feature a listener question sent by one of these methods.
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Today’s Entry: Brian, I’d like for you to discuss the topic of the proposed social media ban for children. I get the potential benefit of kids not being subjected to the influence of social media. At the same time I believe that we’ll effectively turn many children into quasi criminals if a ban is passed. Many kids would probably just lie about their age which could also lead to more of them potentially engaged with adults which isn’t safe either. To me it seems as though it’s an issue for parents to attempt to regulate as opposed to the government.
Bottom Line: Among the hottest topics at the start of the state’s legislative session has been the proposed social media ban for children. On the surface, at the onset of the debate about whether Florida should enact policy limiting access to social media by minors, it’s an issue most parents might be inclined to be supportive of. A Harris study on the topic last year found 50% of parents saying their children (measured in the study as minors under the age of 18), have suffered mentally as a result of their social media use, compared to only 35% of parents who say social media has generally had a positive impact on their children’s lives. Of course, there’s a lot of studied data on this topic as well, some of which I’ll cover in this story, but I wanted to start with the temperature check with the perspective of parents. Based on the sentiment of parents, there’s at least a case that can be made that a potential ban by the state would be serving the interests of a majority of families as opposed to potential legislative overreach. With that said, interesting points have been raised in today’s note, and from a limited government perspective, there’s certainly that argument to be made that just because there may be the political will to support legislative action, doesn’t mean there should be legislative action. Let’s start with what the bill as currently proposed would do.
From the bills text:
A social media platform shall do all of the following:
- Prohibit a minor who is younger than 16 years of age from creating a new account on the social media platform
- Use reasonable age verification methods to verify the age of each account holder on the social media platform at the time a new account is created
- Terminate any account that is reasonably known by the social media platform to be held by a minor younger than 16 years of age and provide a minimum of 90 days for an account holder to dispute such termination by verifying his or her age
- Allow an account holder younger than 16 years of age to request to terminate the account.
- Allow the confirmed parent or guardian of an account holder younger than 16 years of age to request the minor's account be terminated.
- Permanently delete all personal information held by the social media platform relating to the terminated account
So that’s specifically what’s currently being considered in Tallahassee. As for the scientific validity of the proposal, there are obviously numerous studies that could be cited. In the interest of brevity, I’ll choose the one conducted by the National Institutes of Health in 2022, which currently is the basis for federal health recommendations regarding social media use among children. According to the study’s conclusions:
- Although social media use demonstrated to be of utility, an excessive or non-correct use may be a risk factor for mental health, including depression, anxiety, and addiction.
- Social media use may also correlate to a non-adequate nutrition with consumption of junk food marketing leading to weight gain, obesity, dental caries, and unhealthy eating behaviors.
- Associations have been found also with increasing physical problems due to sedentary lifestyle, obesity, and non-physiological postures. On the other hand, social media can cause problems with body image visualization and acceptance, especially in young adolescent girls with lower self-esteem, who may look for contents for losing weight rapidly, and this can help the extension of anorexia disorders.
- Children and adolescents who use social media for many hours a day, are also at higher risk for behavioral problems, cyberbullying, online grooming, sleep difficulties, eye problems, and headache. Moreover, uncontrolled social media use, can lead to sexting, exposure to pornography, exposed to unwanted sexual material online, and early sexual activity.
- Social media users meet more online risks than their peers do, with an increased risk for those who are more digitally competence.
And for some added color they state: It is not possible to decide whether social media use causes internalizing symptoms and problematic behaviors examined in this manuscript or whether children and adolescents suffering from depression, anxiety, or other psychological distress are more likely to spend time on social media. We can just state that there is an association between social media use and health problems. That’s rather declarative. So, in terms of attempting to enact the ban for minors under the age of 16 in Florida, for those who advocate doing so, there’s more than enough scientific/medical evidence to support the argument. Would Floridians, for example, support banning a commonly prescribed drug that’s proven to cause more harm than good for those under the age of 16? More people would probably find it irresponsible if action wasn’t taken to protect children in that example. In that context there’s no difference here. Most people seemingly view child social media use as a tech access issue as opposed to a public health issue. But clearly, the topic is mostly a public health issue.
With that said, today’s note strikes an important point in the consideration about whether a social media ban for minors is appropriate. Is there any doubt but that most fast food is awful for children (and everyone else for that matter)? Has anyone considered banning access to it for minors? Therein lies the broader point in this debate. Especially if one is analyzing this through the prism of a limited government approach. Perhaps this, like the fast-food example, is best left managed by parents as opposed to regulated by government. I’ve reported, you can decide.