AI and social media are preying on kids who are addicted to tech

We might not realise it, but we're at war with a global superpower that lives in the very heart of our homes. It is always listening, knows everything about us and it's coming for our children.

- By Lindsey Schutters

There's a new threat stalking the younger inhabitants of this planet. It's an apex predator disguised as a productivity tool and it's corrupting minds and stealing lives. We are, of course, talking about artificial intelligence (AI), the single most complex technology humanity has ever developed, which is at war with us for the attention of our children.

This isn't a metaphorical war; it's economics. The South African digital advertising market, the engine of this conflict, hit an estimated R122-billion in 2024 and is projected to balloon by 17.3% annually between now and 2030.

This is the "attention economy" in action: a model built on surveillance capitalism that monetises every click, preference and behaviour. And the most lucrative, most targeted market? Children.

This year alone, Meta (which owns Facebook and Instagram) and TikTok will have extracted more than R1.1-billion in ad revenue just from South African teens aged 13 to 17. This revenue is the direct result of a successful campaign to capture their time.

The main characters are well known. In Mzansi, YouTube leads with 25.3 million users, followed by Facebook (26.7 million total users) and Instagram (estimated 3.25 million youth users). TikTok is a dominant force in the youth demographic with an estimated 3.25 million users aged 13 to 17.

The business model of these companies depends on one thing: immersion. And it has, of course, been wildly successful.

South African children and teenagers are reported to have some of the highest average daily screen times in the world, clocking in at nine hours and 24 minutes - nearly three hours above the global average and in full violation of the recommended guidelines of two hours of recreational screen time per day for school-aged children.

Clear and present danger