Fix the house: On social media, social media access
The debate over banning social media for teenagers is shifting from simple age-based restrictions to more nuanced approaches like digital literacy and platform design regulation. Experts argue that bans lack evidence of effectiveness and suggest focusing on 'duty of care' and parental controls instead.
Why it matters
It addresses the global policy dilemma of how to protect minors online without resorting to potentially ineffective or overreaching legislative bans.
The more wicked the problem, the more the people yearn for a simpler solution. This tendency has complicated the public debate on how and how much social media harm teenagers. While the idea that these platforms were stoking a mental health crisis prevailed in several countries for long, researchers have now adopted a more cautious stance. Social media use and mental health are clearly associated — more so among girls — but how much of that is actually causal and in what circumstances is still being debated. Recently, Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke favourably of Australia’s decision , in 2024, to ban social media access for those aged 16 and below . His words augur a similar ban in India, one that Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka have publicly mulled as well.
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