Media researcher: Social media age limits just teach kids to lie | News | #childpredator | #kidsaftey | #childsaftey

The European Commission’s proposal to ban social media for children under 13 and require users to be at least 15 to create their own accounts is facing opposition in Estonia. “Estonia’s position is actually a happy medium. We don’t want age limits of 13 or 15 because experience elsewhere in the world has already shown us what will happen: We’ll teach children to lie and normalize the idea that children simply lie,” explained Univerity of Tartu Assistant Professor of Media Studies Maria Murumaa-Mengel, who serves on an advisory council operating under the Government Office.According to Murumaa-Mengel, young people cannot be artificially kept out of the digital world.”Imagine throwing a 15-year-old into that jungle if we don’t regulate it. What will happen to them? We certainly support stricter regulation of platforms to eliminate manipulative design or at least ensure that default settings are designed not to manipulate users,” Murumaa-Mengel added.Social Democratic Party MP Madis Kallas said it was time to stop downplaying the problems and that the state should take a clear, tough stance. In his view, Estonia’s cautious approach has left it an outlier compared with other countries.”Estonia is currently one of the few remaining gray areas that has not taken any legislative steps, unlike other European countries,” Kallas said, referring to calls in Europe for a ban.Kallas pointed to feedback from psychiatrists and psychologists about the impact of social media on young people’s mental health.”I’m not part of the current government. If I were, I would take a more decisive approach,” Kallas added. “One thing I don’t like is that we constantly seem to want to downplay the problem, because the fact is that a young child’s brain is not ready for the challenges posed by social media, its algorithms or its models.”Rain Epler, an MP from the Conservative People’s Party of Estonia (EKRE), opposed a government-imposed ban, arguing that it reflected parents’ desire to shirk responsibility.”I certainly don’t support a ban,” Epler said. “Sometimes it seems to me that there are quite a few parents who don’t want to set boundaries for their children themselves and their lives would be easier if schools or even the state imposed a ban. That way, they wouldn’t have to do it themselves. Raising children and taking responsibility for ensuring they grow up to be good, functioning members of society is primarily the responsibility of parents,” Epler said.According to Epler, the state should not regulate content or impose blanket restrictions, although it can put pressure on technology companies.”In the United States, court cases have resulted in rulings and substantial fines. Internal documents from companies such as Meta and TikTok have made it quite clear that they have deliberately worked to make their products addictive,” Epler added.Young people just bypass bansContent creator Maria Rannaväli recalled the beginning of her career and noted that age restrictions on social media have always been largely symbolic.”I created a YouTube account using my mother’s birth year. I was one year too young, as the minimum age was 13. Even back then, those restrictions were more symbolic than anything else. And when we talk about the message a potential ban would send, it would essentially be that we have yet another rule, but nobody cares whether it’s actually enforced,” Rannaväli said.”There’s a risk that age restrictions will become a convenient, easy solution for governments to show they’re doing something without delving into the true complexity of the issue,” Rannaväli added.Maria Murumaa-Mengel added that young people trying to circumvent restrictions is an everyday reality.”During workshops, young Estonians told us how they use their parents’ ID cards and VPNs. It’s incredible how resourceful they are,” she said.Musician and parent Sandra Sillamaa acknowledged that it is extremely difficult for parents to enforce boundaries without a supportive framework, which is why they need backing. In her own life, Sillamaa has adopted strict measures, such as keeping the Instagram app on her phone only three days a week and deleting it altogether at night. She would also support a more radical nationwide approach that would extend beyond children to society as a whole.”If I became Estonia’s first minister for smart devices and the internet, I would start with adults: Social media would be off-limits every day after a certain hour,” Sillamaa proposed.”For example, from 8 p.m. to 8 a.m., so people would interact with one another and overall mental health would improve. It starts with parents. You can’t ban screens for your children while you’re glued to your own phone,” Sillamaa added.–Follow ERR News on Facebook and X and never miss an update!

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