SA should consider under-16 social media age restriction now
· Citizen
Australia has done it. Indonesia has followed and the UK intends to do so from next year.
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As governments move to keep children below a prescribed age off social media, SA faces the same difficult question: should it shut the door, too?
I believe the country should seriously consider an under-16 restriction.
I would prefer the language of an “age restriction” rather than simply a punitive “ban”.
I would not view a restriction as a complete solution. It should form part of a broader child development and online safety strategy involving parents, schools, government and technology companies.
Australia became the first to enforce a national minimum age of 16.
Since 10 December last year, designated platforms have had to take reasonable steps to prevent under-16s from creating or retaining accounts.
The burden rests on the companies, not children or their parents.
Indonesia subsequently began enforcing curbs for users under 16 and the UK has announced certain social media services will become unavailable to under-16s next year.
South Africa should study these approaches, not copy them blindly.
Local policy would have to account for unequal access to technology, digital literacy, education, data costs and the reality that many children also go online to learn, create, find community and seek support.
Age checks introduce privacy questions, while determined adolescents may simply circumvent them.
A restriction without education, platform accountability and accessible alternatives is unlikely to be sufficient.
The developmental concern reaches far beyond offensive content.
For younger children, real human interaction is the “developmental work”.
Language is not learnt merely by hearing words on a screen.
It develops through joint attention, taking turns, reading faces and body language, asking questions and repairing misunderstandings.
The issue is not simply what a screen does to a child; it is what the screen may prevent the child from doing.
That distinction is supported by research.
A 2024 systematic review and meta-analysis in JAMA Pediatrics found greater programme viewing and background TV exposure among children under six were associated with poorer cognitive outcomes.
Age-inappropriate content and caregiver screen use during children’s routines were associated with poorer psychosocial outcomes.
The study also found positive associations between co-use and cognitive outcomes, underscoring that context matters.
For older children, social media arrives while identity, emotional regulation and self-concept are still developing.
It can intensify social comparison, fear of missing out, pressure to manufacture an idealised identity and cyberbullying, while algorithms can surface self-harm, eating disorder, sexualised or violent material.
Sleep is another casualty. Late-night use, notifications and pull of endlessly refreshed content can make disengagement difficult.
Poor sleep then affects attention, memory, learning, behaviour and emotional regulation.
Highly stimulating platforms may also crowd out the experiences through which children practise patience, sustained attention, problem-solving and tolerance of boredom.
Unlike bullying, online abuse can follow a child home, continue around the clock and be broadcast to an enormous audience.
Kids may encounter grooming, scams, misinformation and harmful challenges.
That is why reporting channels must be visible and trusted, and children must know discomfort is reason enough to approach an adult. Safety depends on keeping communication open, not access closed.
Protection requires more than policing a child’s handset.
Parents can delay social media accounts, keep phones out of bedrooms at night, create techfree family time and model the habits they expect.
Schools can establish phonefree periods, teach media literacy and explain how algorithms and ads influence behaviour.
Tech companies must reduce harmful content loops and manipulative design features.
We must be practical rather than puritanical: kids need sleep, play, movement, books, imagination, friendships, conversation and responsive adults more than they need another feed to scroll.
Technology must become part of childhood without becoming a childhood substitute.