SA weighs in on restricting social media for under-16s

WITH growing concern over the impact of social media on children's mental health, several countries, including Australia, France, and even some US states, are calling for a ban on under-16s joining social platforms.

- SARENE KLOREN

In South Africa, the conversation is gaining momentum as KwaZulu-Natal Health MEC, Nomagugu Simelane raised concerns about the harmful effects of social media.

Simelane recently made an impassioned appeal for parents to get more involved in their children's digital lives.

Speaking on the KZN Health Chat multimedia programme, she warned of the links between social media use and anxiety, depression, low self-esteem, and even suicide among young people.

"Our children become severely affected by social media," said Simelane.

"You realise that as parents, we take it for granted, thinking 'it's just a phone.' But you find cases whereby a child may take their own life, only to find that it's due to the pressure that they had put themselves under, based on what they see on social media."

Simelane stressed the dangers of cyberbullying and digital peer pressure.

She highlighted a case where a learner superimposed another student's face onto a sex worker's profile as an example of the devastating consequences of unsupervised online access.