Canadians Have Big Feelings About Social Media And Kids
(Photo: iStock)
Adults don’t agree on much at the moment, but one thing we’re clear about: social media sucks for kids, and we want to see them protected from its various harms. Who and how to do it appears to be the sticking point.
A new poll from Angus Reid suggests that a majority of Canadians want to see social media use restricted for kids, with 75 percent saying they’re in favour of restrictions for kids under age 16.
Canadians distrust TikTok, Snapchat and X (formerly known as Twitter) the most, but they’re so-so on YouTube, with just under half worrying it’s a problem.
Concerns about kids’ exposure to social media are overwhelmingly rooted in its risk to children’s mental health and the addictive nature of the technology.
Those worries are significant enough, but there’s more. Most are overwhelming disturbed by the way social media increases kids’ exposure to sexual predators, misinformation, the opportunities that exist to experience cyberbullying and exposure to explicit content.
Anxieties about social media’s harms aren’t misplaced. Earlier this month, two U.S. courts delivered landmark verdicts against Meta and YouTube for not only creating addictive apps that harm the mental health of kids and adolescents, but for misleading users about those harms.
Canada is also pursuing legal action against tech companies on behalf of kids’, too. More than a dozen school boards in Ontario are currently suing Meta, Snapchat and TikTok, claiming the companies are addictive and have negatively affected kids’ learning and behaviour. They want the companies to reimburse the education system for what they argue are harms done.
Angus Reid’s poll on social media use for kids, however, gets more complicated when it comes to solutions.
Australia is the first country to ban social media use for kids under age 16, but it doesn’t appear Canadians are leaning toward endorsing a similar action. Canadians may agree that social media is The Bad Place for kids, but they don’t believe governments should be the ones that restrict usage.
In fact, 72 percent believe the “bans” should be left to parents to enforce—not political leaders. That parent-led approach is made more complex by the fact that four in five parents report they’re already doing just that. So, it’s not clear if the poll represents a shift in thinking, or if it reflects a nod of approval for the hard work parents are doing every day to protect kids from a known harm.
What it does make clear, however, is that parents are bearing the burden for technology products that demand greater investment in moderation and safety design.
And frankly, that sucks, too.
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Flannery Dean is a writer based in Hamilton, Ont. She’s written for The Narwhal, the Globe and Mail and The Guardian.
