Children should not have social media, and we should wage war against it to end its tyranny over the minds of our children now.
On Monday, Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) vetoed a bill that would have banned children under 16 from being allowed to create social media accounts. His reason was that “the Legislature is about to create a different, superior bill.”
American Civil Liberties Union of Florida Legislative Director Kara Gross condemned DeSantis and the Florida legislature. She argued that banning minors from social media “is an affront to the constitutional principle of freedom of speech.”
The case for blocking social media access from children is not made on the grounds of freedom of speech. It is based on the plethora of evidence that suggests social media lacks reliable restrictions and promotes bad content for children.
Florida is taking a brave step toward securing the safety of children in a nation where, according to the Pew Research Center, 95% of them use smartphones, with 46% saying they are online almost constantly.
There is no good reason for allowing children to have access to social media. It is a psychological plague on their developing minds that erodes their basic faculties and floods their minds with content detrimental to their well-being.
Social media deteriorates the mental health of children. Mental health problems steadily increased as social media became more accessible to minors. The number of minors ages 6 to 17 who were diagnosed with either anxiety or depression was 5.4% in 2003, 8% in 2007, and 8.4% in 2011. By 2019, before the COVID-19 lockdowns began, 10% of minors ages 3 to 17 were diagnosed with anxiety, and 37% of high schoolers reported feeling sad or hopeless.
Social media increases the likelihood of children having behavioral problems. A study by the National Center for Biotechnology Information found that children who spend more than one hour a day on social media have significantly more conduct problems, hyperactivity/inattention, and emotional symptoms than children who spend less than one hour a day on social media.
Social media sexualizes the minds of children by regularly showing them unrealistic expectations for beauty and exposes them to obscene content. Twenty-nine percent of teenagers were shown pornographic content online without ever looking for it. Fifty-four percent saw it by age 13, with an astonishing 15% having seen it as early as age 11.
A concern I have often heard from both parents and children is that they need to be able to contact each other, which is valid. The easiest solution is to get the child a flip phone. Many flip phones lack the damaging content of smartphones.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
And for children worried about looking unpopular or weird for having such a phone, fear not because there are good indications that the popular device from the ’90s may soon experience a renaissance. ZDNET reports that “online searches for flip phones are up 15,369 percent over the past year among Gen Z and younger Millennials.”
Social media has done little good for the human race. Instead, it has damaged and ruined the lives of countless children. The harder we crack down on social media platforms, the safer our children will be from the psychological warfare of the internet.
Parker Miller is a 2024 Washington Examiner winter fellow.
