Australia social media ban a step in the right direction

Last month, the Labour government in Australia implemented a ban on the use of social media for people under 16 years old. The ban includes Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, YouTube, Twitch, Facebook, Reddit, and Twitter. Australia is the first country to implement a ban on social media for children. The legislation was passed in the name of child welfare. 

Restricting youth from social media is a step in the right direction toward regulation of monopolies and protecting children. The use of a ban of social media can move impressionable children away from both the false sense of socialisation that social media provides and exposure to the whims of the profit-oriented monopolies. But, what is necessary is investments into infrastructure for sports, culture, and recreation for youth, as a public service and not for profit. It is not enough to simply ban social media – what is needed is viable alternative forms of socialising in reality. 

Here in Canada, minors are prohibited from purchasing alcohol and cannabis. We would be ignorant to think that, just because there are laws that restrict the purchase of alcohol or cannabis, no 17-year-old has been served at a bar or smoked a joint. However, we do know that, by providing after-school programs including ones that are flexible or drop-in, by funding music, visual arts, theatre, sports, etc. with no financial barriers in schools and public community centres, and by giving youth the space and tools to socialise in a healthy fashion, less young people will turn to drugs. We hold the same view on social media. 

For years, programs for youth have been slashed across Canada. Programs for music and sports in schools across the country have been outright cancelled. Spaces for young people to socialize outside of school during our winters went from community centres to fast food restaurants. At the same time that youths’ access to culture, recreation, and sports was being limited, we saw the widespread implementation of smart phones and social media. 

Even something as trivial as video games went from playing together in-person on the same console, at a LAN party, or at an internet cafe, to now something youth play together virtually and in isolation.

We have seen the harmfulness of the financialisation and corporatisation of many nominally recreational activities. Programs for sports and music, for example, now come at a restrictively high cost for parents. Of course, we understand the importance of competition in a spirit of camaraderie; however, the specialisation of young artists and athletes is coming at the expense of the welfare and pocketbook of the individuals, their families, and the collective as a whole. 

We have seen similar moves here in our country to the Australian social media ban, such as the ban of cell phones in the classroom in Quebec. These are positive developments, but need to be placed in the larger context of funding cuts to education and the creeping corporatisation of our education. We can see many yankee-style education reforms taking place, from charter schools in western Canada to Ontario using U.S. for-profit modules in their e-learning. 

It is not sufficient to simply call for restrictions for youth without providing families with viable, quality, free public alternatives. 

The YCL-LJC must up its work on the campaign for sports, recreation, culture, and leisure for young people of the working class and popular strata. As we approach a Central Convention process in the new year, serious thought and discussion must be made on how we will promote healthy lifestyles to the youth and make collective focused interventions into the spheres of art, sports, and culture. We say as the YCL-LJC, for a life with a future!