Too young for social media

Following last week’s Tacloban school shooting allegedly carried out by two Grade 9 students, that killed three fellow students and injured 20 others various proposals have emerged to regulate smartphone use among children 16 years old and below, particularly their exposure to social media.

Dumanjug, Cebu, Mayor Efren "Gungun" Gica announced a total ban on cellphones in schools starting yesterday, June 29, with students caught bringing phones to have them confiscated until the end of the school year. Gica said the policy aims to help students focus on reading, studying, and interacting with classmates. He urged parents to stay involved in their children's education and strengthen family relationships at home.

Meanwhile, in Cebu City, Mayor Nestor Archival said he still needs to weigh the banning of cellphones inside schools, though he expressed support for the move of the Dumanjug mayor. Archival said Cebu City cannot do so as easily because it has far more schools. He added that parents in the city want their children to have cellphones in case of emergencies such as earthquakes or accidents, so that the children can be reached more quickly.

In a news release over the weekend, House Minority Leader, 4Ps Partylist Representative Marcelino Libanan called on Congress to consider tighter restrictions on minors' access to social media, among others. Libanan noted that Australia has prohibited children below 16 years of age from maintaining social media accounts.

Senator Sherwin Gatchalian had earlier filed Senate Bill No. 2066, or the proposed Social Media Safety for Children Act, in April. The bill seeks to prohibit children below 16 years old from accessing social media platforms or creating accounts on them.

These proposals have found support from the Philippine Pediatric Society, which recommended that children 16 and younger should not have unsupervised access to social media.

On this issue, I read a 2024 review by Filipino researchers, a 2024 Indonesian study, and the European Commission’s own 2025 scientific review. Different settings, but the same uncomfortable conclusion is clear. For many minors, heavy and unsupervised social media use is doing measurable harm to their minds, bodies, and sleep.

I agree that action is urgently needed. It is high time to seriously consider the said proposals. Children today are unlucky to be born into an environment that can harm both their mental health and physical well-being. As a Gen-Xer, I grew up in a childhood shaped by physical activity, the natural world around me, and the personal supervision of adults. There was no social media constantly showing us things we were not ready to see.

The European Commission’s document entitled “Minors’ Health and Social Media: An Interdisciplinary Scientific Perspective” shows how quickly social media algorithms can deliver graphic self-harm material within minutes of a child scrolling. Hundreds of studies also link screen use to shorter and poorer sleep. That lost sleep is itself tied to anxiety and depression over time.

The effects are not uniform, however. They vary by the child, the use, and the platform. Social media can connect and educate, and sweeping, arbitrary age limits can carry unintended consequences. But that should not mean we do nothing. It means we should regulate rationally.

Impose a minimum-age rule, but don’t stop there. Hold social media platforms accountable for the algorithms that amplify danger to young people, and prepare children for the technology they will, in time, be old enough to use well. The details can be debated in Congress, but the need for regulation should no longer be ignored.