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And it will go beyond regulating teens<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n By Thierry Malleret, economist<\/strong><\/p>\n Earlier this month, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said that \u201c<\/span>social media has become a failed state<\/span><\/b>,\u201d echoing the rising concerns of many policymakers and experts\u00a0about the dangers\u00a0it\u00a0poses.\u00a0The\u00a0<\/span>push to ban some digital platforms to users\u00a0<\/span><\/b>under a certain age is\u00a0<\/span>gaining traction<\/span><\/b>, most notably in Europe with countries like Austria, France, Denmark, Germany, Greece,\u00a0Spain\u00a0and the UK considering a ban for those under 16. In the US, a<\/span>round two dozen states are exploring laws\u202faimed at restricting access to social media or requiring age verification for teenagers.\u00a0<\/span>There is certainly a growing recognition (supported by scientific evidence, which so far\u00a0remains\u00a0limited) that digital platforms like TikTok, Grok, Facebook and Instagram\u00a0<\/span>negatively affect our cognitive,\u00a0mental\u00a0and physical wellbeing<\/span><\/b>.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n This said,\u00a0some\u00a0question marks\u00a0remain\u00a0about whether banning teenagers from social media could do\u00a0<\/span>more harm than good<\/span><\/b>.\u00a0<\/span>As\u00a0demonstrated\u00a0by Australia\u2014the first country to put in place a ban on social\u00a0media consumption for teenagers last December\u2014evaluating the effectiveness of such a policy can be tricky.\u00a0<\/span>After\u00a0the\u00a0initial\u00a0four months, practical experience shows that\u00a0<\/span>enforcing a ban is\u00a0very hard<\/span><\/b>\u00a0(mainly because of VPNs), and so is defining what social media really is.\u00a0For example,\u00a0WhatsApp\u2014having\u00a0escaped the ban\u2014\u00a0is now used by\u00a0many\u00a0Australian teenagers as a social media platform. Is the messaging app evolving into a social media platform?\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Despite the vagaries of legislation,\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0likely that\u00a0<\/span>social media is living<\/span><\/b>, or about to live,\u00a0<\/span>its big tobacco moment<\/span><\/b>. Naturally, big tech is fighting back. Elon Musk denounced\u00a0Pedro Sanchez as a \u201ctyrant\u201d and\u202f\u201cfascist totalitarian,\u201d\u00a0framing the whole issue as\u00a0<\/span>one of\u00a0<\/span>freedom of speech and\u00a0<\/span>authoritarian censorship<\/span><\/b>. For Europe,\u00a0regulating social media platforms is almost certain to inflame tensions with the current US administration\u2013and\u00a0<\/span>th<\/span><\/b>is\u00a0is\u00a0the point\u00a0<\/span><\/b>where wellness, geopolitics and tech intersect and collide<\/span><\/b>.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n From a global standpoint, the broader and fundamental question\u00a0for the wellness community\u00a0is:\u00a0<\/span>how\u00a0do we\u00a0protect ourselves from social media without depriving ourselves of its benefits?\u00a0<\/span><\/b>Today, the conversation is focused on children and teenagers, but is there any age at which someone becomes old enough to escape social media addiction and\u00a0to digest\u00a0unlimited\u00a0amounts of\u00a0hate,\u00a0abuse, addictive\u00a0material\u00a0and violent pornography without mental harm? Similarly, is there a limit in terms of the time we should spend talking to an online chatbot?\u00a0<\/span>Finding<\/span><\/b>, or\u00a0<\/span>providing, protection against social media excess and overconsumption<\/span><\/b>\u00a0goes beyond defining an age limit. It must also be a question\u00a0of\u00a0defining a \u201cwellness\u00a0limit,\u201d\u00a0the threshold beyond which too much social media becomes incompatible with\u00a0a person\u2019s wellbeing.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n ","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Social Media Is About to Have Its Big \u201cTobacco\u201d Moment And it will go beyond regulating teens By Thierry Malleret, economist Earlier this month, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said that \u201csocial media has become a failed state,\u201d echoing the rising concerns of many policymakers and experts\u00a0about the dangers\u00a0it\u00a0poses.\u00a0The\u00a0push to ban some digital platforms to users\u00a0under a certain age is\u00a0gaining traction, most notably in Europe… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":52948,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"content-type":"","inline_featured_image":false,"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[13,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-52928","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-uncategorized","wpautop","clearfix"],"yoast_head":"\n