Is social media ban the answer?

November 26, 2024

MANLA – In 2021, doctors all over the world started noticing an unusual phenomenon. Young people, particularly teenage girls, were suddenly developing tics. They were displaying full-body flailing movements as well as coprolalia—an unconscious tendency to shout obscene and socially unacceptable words. Neurologists who studied the phenomenon concluded that many of these cases were actually social media-induced. Dubbed “TikTok tics,” young people were watching viral TikTok videos of influencers with Tourette’s Syndrome who proudly showed their tics online. The prolonged exposure to these posts and the psychological pressures from the pandemic-induced lockdown triggered vulnerable individuals to mirror the twitches they watched. This issue highlights social media’s profound influence on shaping young minds and behaviors.

Various research has consistently linked high levels of social media use with various negative outcomes among users aged 14 to 24, including heightened feelings of anxiety, depression, poor body image, and loneliness. Many experts also believe that the constant overstimulation from social media use puts the nervous system into fight-or-flight mode, exacerbating disorders such as ADHD, anxiety, depression, and oppositional defiant disorder.

Last week, Australia introduced a bill to ban social media for children under 16, with proposed fines of up to 49.5 million Australian dollars for platforms that fail to comply or experience any systemic breach. For context, most platforms currently require users to be at least 13 years old. The legislation would require social networking sites to use age-verification systems that may include biometrics or government identification. The bill, which has