Social Media and Teenagers

Analysing the parental consent rule for children in the latest Digital Data Protection Rules by evaluating the problems that social media pose

The Indian government recently released the draft Digital Data Protection Rules. Among the many provisions in the rules, it was also said that users under 18 should get consent from a parent to use social media.

Over the years, social media has become an important part of the lives of teenagers. Moreover, teenagers are a large consumer base for social media platforms. These rules will therefore have a significant impact on teen users and social media platforms.

In this article, we discuss issues related to teenagers and social media and why this move by the Indian government is in the right direction. We explore the rationale behind similar restrictions in other countries and the growing support for such laws.

Social Media Usage

Today, 63.8% of the people in the world use social media. Among the social media platforms, Facebook has the largest number of active users, followed by YouTube and WhatsApp. When it comes to younger users, Instagram is the most used platform.

As far as India is concerned, 59.9% of its population are active social media users as of 2024. According to a recent survey, most social media users from India were between the ages of 18 and 25. Interestingly, the same survey showed that 76% of children aged 15-17 are active on at least one social media platform.

Moral Panic?

Research has clearly shown the negative effects of social media usage. Social media addiction, decreased ability to process emotions, and second-order effects related to lack of social connections are common today. In this context, how old one should be to start using social media is a debate worth having. Age restrictions on alcohol and cigarette usage, gambling, use of firearms, voting, driving, etc are imposed around the world. Should social media use also fall into this category?

In November 2024 Australia became the first country to ban social media for children below 16 years of age. The Australian Prime Minister stated that the laws were necessary to shield children from the "harms" of social media.

But is this just another moral panic? When writing became popular, philosophers like Socrates argued against it. Something similar was said about television, computers, and the internet. But in retrospect, we know the benefits of these tools have far outweighed the costs. So, is the panic surrounding social media another such fear?

In this regard, it is important to note that the conversation is not about a complete social media ban or whether social media is inherently harmful. Instead, it is to see if social media has certain characteristics that call for more careful usage, which may require the maturity of an adult.

Social Media and Teenagers

Many studies show social media usage worsens mental health in teens. Researchers like Jonathan Haidt have observed a sharp spike in mental health issues like anxiety since the early 2010s. They attribute this to the onset of social media and its excessive usage.

First among the side effects is a decline in free play. It is through free play, failing, getting hurt, and getting up again that children grow and become adults. Research in countries like the US has shown that free play has declined among children. The steady advancements in digital technology made it easier and more appealing for young people to spend time indoors, often alone in their rooms. This also halted their independent upbringing.

The second problem is fragmented attention and disrupted learning. Social media apps are vying for users’ attention. They are getting smarter and smarter by the day in curating notifications based on user preferences. In this context, it is hard even for an adult with a fully developed prefrontal cortex (part of the brain that governs focus and attention) to have focus. Teens find it even harder. This impacts their attention spans as they become adults.

Along with this, research also shows the effect of social media on sleeping patterns, exercise habits, gaming, and porn addictions among teenagers. Indeed, the research in this area is still at its nascent stage and we need a few more decades to see the effects play out. But can we wait till a generation of children go through these potential negative pathways?

Regulating Social Media

The role of protecting the children is primarily the parents’ responsibility. It is for the parents to regulate children’s freedom in the virtual world. As a principle, it would do more harm than good if the government took up the parental role.

Additionally, social media platforms have become a platform for creativity and knowledge sharing. Social media has even become a reliable news source due to its unregulated, informal, and free nature. For example, platforms like podcasts have become popular and have positively influenced knowledge sharing because they are yet to come under the restrictions of laws. Hence, blanket regulations on social media can be harmful.

But in the current situation, we can’t sue social media companies even when we find that they are harming our children.

In the case of social media, the users are not customers but are the product. Users of all kinds, including teenagers, aren't paying Facebook or Instagram money. The real customers are advertising companies who pay for our data and this brings additional problems.

To begin with, social media platforms have a disproportionately high amount of information about us than we have about them. They know everything about our kids and can even target us if needed. Compared to that, we have no idea about their functioning. So there is an asymmetry in information. Social media platforms often seek our consent before gathering information. But are children old enough to give informed consent? Can we hold social media companies accountable for harmfully and differently targeting children, if they do, compared to adults?

This is where the role of regulating social media companies comes in. The Indian government has gone about making social media use for children under 18 dependent on parental consent. If a parent, who is an adult, thinks the benefits of social media for their child are higher than the costs, they can consent to having them a social media account. In this way, the responsibility is on the parents to protect their children. The Government has therefore given parents the power of an informed choice.

Way Forward

However, implementing this in practice may be difficult. The draft rules released by the government indicate using age-related tokens, using the existing Aadhar system. This is feasible and implementable.

But the larger win through this has been the government’s initiative to give citizens the choice to decide for themselves, without using tools like bans or fines. Now it is up to society to educate the parents to make an informed decision for their children.

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