Parents vs. Social Media: Should Kids Under 16 Be Allowed to Use It?

This would never happen because it can't be controlled it's so easy for kids to get online don't get me wrong it would be a good idea but it's not realistic

I'll never happen especially when parents of children actually set up the social media accounts for them with fake DoB etc on the smartphone that they also bought. Partners 7 year old Grandson has all this and even with age restricted limits he gets round them.

Personally think it's looking for an easy solution to a complex situation. James Bulger killers did what they did pre social media n wide internet use.

You cant stop teenagers, they will always find a away, my youngest kids are not allowed Facebook, tick tok ect...

Yes, but it's too late in the game to try and enforce a ban. Definitely not a good thing that they have unlimited access.

If they were watching horrible stuff on the dark web, I'm sure that they'd be able to bypass any checks/bans that would be put in place

The thing with the internet is the younger generations are way better at getting round these things than the technology to enforce it.

Also seems a bit knee jerk

Forbidden fruits always taste the best! If you ban social media it will only increase it's appeal.Just educate youngsters as to the 'dangers' inherent and try to engage them more with real life pursuits.

Banning sadly wont do any good. Better tools from the social media companies so that bullies etc can be identified and reported would help though.

Yes I agree with her. I work with kids. Mine isn't allowed social media yet. It can be controlled cos parents stupidity allow their kids to have social media when under the age. Give in to pester pressure.

The problem is kids are smart. Anything that is put in place kids will sort out a way to get around it.

Same as some parents allow their-12 and 13 year olds to play quite vicious games on their x boxes or playstations etc. some kids still find it difficult to differentiate between real life and their online fantasy world. Specially if they have peer pressure v

In a better, caring world , yes. No exceptions, no loopholes and no way around it. But as others say, it can never happen, Pandora's box is well and truly open.

I remember when Facebook started an under 16 couldn’t open an account.

I sort of feel when people are interested in something even if that interest is negative and criminal the internet allows them to find similar people to make their viewpoint normal and justified. I was walking about 10 metres behind a lad of about 20 who had one bag of shopping. He kept looking into people's cars and I could see he was looking to see if the doors were locked. He didn't care if people behind were watching him. I suspect if a door had been unlocked he probably would have waited until there were no other pedestrians and then nicked whatever was inside. Maybe I'm wrong about this person but my point is some people don't seem to be bothered by morality at all and it doesn't take much to put them on the wrong side of the law.

Most kids are fine on the internet but some obviously have little or no morality. Personally I feel I can tell good kids from bad kids fairly easily by their actions, how they speak and their attitude. Some parents are often the worst judges of their own children as they are biased in favour of their own children and are not rational looking at the evidence so they ignore the real signs of what is going wrong. I never wanted to watch sadistic violent horror movies as a kid and still don't as a adult and I'm always wary of those who enjoy that sort of entertainment.

There are already lower age limits on most Social Media apps of around 13 or 14 but its easily by-passed, just like 13 year olds buying Vapes. And the Tech companies can’t deal with Conspiracy Theory lies and Fake News, there’s no way they could control age.