Social media can't be entirely blamed for the 'anxious generation'.

When Jonathan Haidt published his bestselling book The Anxious Generation, the idea that mobile phones and social media were behind rising rates of mental health problems resonated widely. More recently the popular Netflix series Adolescence graphically captured the risk that the online world could pose to young people.

In this context, it is unsurprising the idea of a proposed ban on social media for under-16s has been welcomed. It seems like an intuitive solution to a recognised problem, but further examination of the evidence is needed before following the example of Australia.

Although it is correct that there are rising rates of mental health problems, researchers have recognised a range of social trends that might account for this, including broad shifts in family structure and living circumstances, increased academic pressure, housing and economic insecurity, inequity and discrimination, political polarisation, and climate change.

Social media is likely to be one of many factors that have an impact on the lives of young people – but is certainly not the sole contributor. A meme doing the rounds in young people’s social media networks captured the absurdity of adults blaming social media as the cause of young people’s distress: ‘Climate change is destroying the earth, we can’t get jobs, and we won’t own houses – but parents be like: Social media is making our kids anxious.’  

Things do need to change and there is research that draws attention to the negative effects of internet over-use, cyber-bullying, grooming and abuse, and unhelpful social comparison, as part of social media. But the findings for mental health are much less conclusive, and don’t establish cause and effect.  

Rather, the research shows that social media contributes both positively and negatively to young people’s mental health; and that where there are negative effects, these are small. For example, the most cited primary studies about social media harm reported that correlations accounted for less than 1 percent of the variation in depressive symptoms. To put it another way, 99.666 percent of the variation in adolescents’ depressive symptoms was because of other factors, and the correlation between digital technology usage and depression was only 0.4 percent. Yet the author of that paper is often cited when highlighting the harms of social media, as in this review in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry.   

The effects of social media on mental health depend on myriad factors, such as time spent on social media, sites visited, sleep and social connections, which may amplify existing anxiety and distress.

We do not wish to understate or ignore the potential serious risks of social media and other online sites, but it is important to acknowledge that the research is not as clear as is being presented, and it is inaccurately being used to scare parents.

Nonetheless, there are risks for young people on social media (as there are in many different parts of their lives) and it is vital we do as much as we can to minimise those risks, but is a social media ban for under 16s the best way of doing this? As academics and mental health professionals working in the area of youth mental health, we don’t think it is, and we’re concerned about the potential, albeit unintended, negative consequences of a ban.

We are concerned that a young person, finding themselves in trouble online would be unable to reach out to an adult for help because they are aware that their actions are ‘illegal’. A ban on social media will make it even more shameful and difficult to ask for help and increase secrecy online. What young people repeatedly ask is that the adults in their lives learn more about the issues they face and how to provide support to them. There is a risk here that young people become increasingly reluctant to engage with adults as allies and supports.

The most obvious criticism of a ban for under 16-year-olds is that young people will find a way to get around it. There are age limits on social media, with most platforms already banning under 13-year-olds. However, a recent US study found that 38 percent of children aged eight-12 getting around age restrictions on social media by lying about their ages.  

Digital natives will find workarounds to any restrictions. Another risk is the mass migration of young people into online activity that is unregulated (with new platforms developing all the time, this is a real risk) or find other ways around it, like accessing foreign virtual private networks that make it look like they are not from New Zealand. Importantly, the social media ban in Australia does not include YouTube, the most commonly used site by children.

Young people seek social connection and support via social media, which is a lifeline for many young people who have found communities where they feel they belong and gain support from other people who understand their experience.

Beyond the informal support, many young people find mental health professionals and services have increasingly used social media and digital networks to ‘reach in’ and provide support to young people who might not otherwise seek help for distress, mental health concerns and suicidality. We have many examples from our research and service work of cases where social media communities and networks have helped to save young people’s lives.Importantly, social media platforms are likely to see this as a ‘get-out-of-jail-free’ card and will not take responsibility for safe design and safety features, pushing the responsibility to parents and young people.

As parents we would not tolerate a deliberately designed environment that would expose our children to harm. We would demand the people responsible for the design make it safe, through regulation, safety procedures and with co-design by end users. Young people must be part of the solution. Strengthening our own legislation in New Zealand, including the Harmful Digital Communications Act 2015, would be a good start. 

Minimising the potential harm of social media and online spaces to young people’s mental health is going to need a range of solutions. We need to harness our collective concern, support and resources as adults to put pressure on the social media platforms to regulate their content and to provide increased safety to young people in these spaces.

We also need to actively educate children, young people and their families to develop the skills they need to protect themselves in online spaces and be better digital citizens for life. Many parents simply do not know how to have conversations about social media, don’t know what social media is or how to minimise exposure to harmful content. As adults, we aren’t always the best examples – telling our kids to get off their phones, when we spend way too much time on them too. There are a range of co-designed resources that have been designed to help whanau negotiate social media safely as well as pioneering work by NetSafe.

Specifically for mental health, ChatSafe guidelines and social media messaging for young people will equip them with the skills and knowledge to communicate safely online about self-harm and suicide and is being adapted by Te Ata Hāpara Suicide Prevention Research Centre at the University of Auckland specifically for New Zealand youth. Internationally, researchers are seeking solutions that are flexible to respond to the rapidly changing nature of online spaces. This is going to need lots of solutions – a multi-pronged approach with regulatory reform, interventions and education. It needs international cooperation and must hold industry accountable for safe design.

We might want to find an easy scapegoat for our broader concerns about increasing distress and anxiety of our young people. In times of uncertainty, we tend towards authoritarian solutions that aim to control behaviour rather than understand and redesign it.

However, in this situation, we do have a choice to think carefully about our options and their implications, to properly understand the nature of the threats we are dealing with, and to work respectfully with young people, their parents, and social agencies to try to find more nuanced and comprehensive solutions to the challenges of social media.