The Dangers of Digital Abuse and our Children

If a physical consumer product was linked to the deaths of children, it would be recalled immediately. Social media should not be treated differently because it’s digital.

How much more evidence do we need before we are willing to act?

Comment: New Zealand’s Parliament has just completed the most comprehensive examination yet of the online harms facing young people. Drawing on more than 400 submissions, the committee concluded that the scale of online harm warrants urgent government action, and among its recommendations was the introduction of age restrictions for social media platforms.

Most parties now support exploring age restrictions, but Act and the Greens have both expressed opposition, citing concerns that such restrictions are disproportionate or could push young people into riskier corners of the internet.

The Select Committee’s recommendation is not radical. Arguably, it is a necessary public health response to products intentionally designed to be addictive (or as Big Tech would have it, to ‘maximise engagement’). And these are design choices that are harming children.

Full story here by Dr Samantha Marsh is a research fellow at the University of Auckland’s Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences - The evidence is in, so why keep hurting our kids? - Newsroom