Across the world, governments are beginning to treat children’s access to social media as a public policy issue rather than a private parenting matter. Australia and the United Kingdom have already moved to restrict social media access to children under 16 years old. Canada, Denmark, France, Greece, Indonesia, Malaysia, Poland, Slovenia, Spain and Turkey are all considering or advancing similar restrictions, targeting children below the ages of 15 or 16.
These governments are responding to mounting evidence on anxiety, sleep disruption, addictive platform design, exposure to harmful content, online exploitation, and the growing risks posed by AI companion chatbots.
The debate on children and social media has largely been positioned as a parenting problem. “Parents should pay more attention. Parents should put limits. Parents should teach their children how to behave online.” While these are all valid points, the growing body of evidence linking harm to children and adolescent social media use now warrants public policy action.
Research is increasingly linking excessive social media and online exposure to depression, anxiety, poor sleep habits, body image issues, cyber bullying, sexual exploitation and exposure to self-harm content. Children who use social media for more than three hours per day are twice as likely to experience poor mental health outcomes such as symptoms of depression and anxiety. This is alarming because adolescence is a critical period of human development. From ages 10-19 children are learning who they are, building self- worth, self-regulation and social confidence.
Social media feeds on engagement. It rewards attention, repetition and emotional response. When a child spends time looking at content related to sadness, self- harm, dieting, violence or humiliation, the platform will often show more of the same. For children who are sad, lonely or have low confidence, this can exacerbate their problems.
Body image is one of the most obvious issues. Constantly seeing edited body photos, unattainable lifestyles and narrow definitions of beauty and success can influence confidence, body dissatisfaction and encourage disordered eating habits. While girls are especially vulnerable to some of these images, boys also see harmful gender stereotypes related to body image, masculinity, social status and aggression.
Online bullying can occur at all hours, reaching a child even when they are alone. Peers can post or message insulting language, exclusive group chats, threats or rumours. This may cause isolation, shame, anxiety or depression. Online bullying can reach a child at home, exist beyond school hours and be forever-searchable or shareable.
Children can also be exposed to inappropriate or dangerous content. They can easily find pornography, graphic violence, hate groups, self-harm encouragement, suicide related content and risky online challenges. Children may also be contacted by adults looking to manipulate, exploit or groom them online. It’s easy for children to view unsafe content because of private accounts, counterfeit accounts and poor age verification methods.
Platforms evolve faster than parents, teachers and even the government can keep up. Safety settings are hard to locate or configure. Privacy policies are lengthy and complex. Children can circumvent rules by creating secondary accounts. Location sharing, ephemeral messaging and algorithmic suggestions create new dangers that house rules can’t fully cover.
Governments already heavily regulate products and services that impact children’s health and wellbeing. We regulate medicines, food, schools, transport and advertising because we recognise children need special protection. Social media should be no different. Platforms are businesses. They should be accountable when they design services that profit from, and put children’s safety at risk.
Governments should require social media companies to design products that are safer for children. Stronger age assurance, less addictive design, reduced algorithmic amplification of harmful content, better reporting tools, faster response to reported abuse, stronger privacy measures and more transparency around children’s data are a starting point.
Protecting children online
Schools should teach digital literacy including privacy, consent, misinformation, online harassment and healthy technology habits. Healthcare should include understanding harmful social media use as part of assessing adolescent mental health.
At home, parents can take several steps. They should know the apps their children use, ask regular questions about their online experiences and discuss what is safe to post. Devices should be kept out of bedrooms where possible, especially at night. Privacy settings should be reviewed. Location sharing should be turned off. Children should be advised not to accept friend requests from people they do not know in real life and not to share passwords, even with friends.
Parents should also be open if they are monitoring online activity. Secrecy can create mistrust, but clear conversations can help children understand that monitoring is about safety, not punishment. Most importantly, children should know that if something goes wrong online, they can come to a trusted adult without fear of blame.
This issue is not about rejecting technology. Social media can support learning, creativity, connection and community. However, its benefits do not remove the need for safeguards. Children should not have to navigate systems designed primarily to maximise engagement and profit.
The evidence is clear enough for action. Social media harm is a public health issue, a children’s rights issue and a governance issue. Protecting children online requires parents, schools, health systems, regulators and technology companies to act together. Children are still developing, therefore, systems they use must be designed with that reality in mind.
