EDITORIAL - Time to ban minors from social media?

"Gisunod ra nako akong nakita sa social media."

Those were the words of one of two minors, one aged 12 and the other 13, who were held responsible for posting a message on social media under the name “Zane Bacalso” that he was going to shoot students at the Talisay City Elementary School and Talisay City National High School.

As per a report in this newspaper, one of the minors was reportedly not ready for a test scheduled that day and they decided to post the threat to disrupt classes after seeing what happened in Tacloban City following the school shooting incident last month.

This is obviously one of the ill effects of social media on the youth. So now the question has to be asked: Is it time for the Philippines to ban social media for those under 16 years old?

As of now Australia, Indonesia, China, and Brazil have already banned social media for those under 16. More countries are considering this, including the United Kingdom as well as the entire European Union. Turkey and the United Arab Emirates are considering banning them for those aged 15.

Their reasons for doing so are mainly to shield children from bad influence as well as protect their mental health.

We cannot deny that social media has its benefits; it’s a good way to communicate with those who have been out of touch with us for a long time and it’s also a way to keep up with current events.

However, there are also downsides; people are exposed to radical ideas, actions that can make them lose faith in humanity, and opinions that reflect poorly on the collective human intelligence.

Prolonged exposure to social media can also cause depression.

For now, two Senate bills propose banning social media for those under 16 in the Philippines; Senate Bill No. 2066 by Senate President Sherwin Gatchalian and House Bill No. 8262 by Representative Eddie Villanueva.

It’s worth fast-tracking those bills to bring this issue to the fore again.

For what it’s worth, we think that those under 16 shouldn’t have access to social media yet. At such an impressionable age, the cons outweigh the pros.