Minimum age for using social media: Australia’s controversial project

The Australian Government will approve a law this year to impose a minimum age, between 14 and 16 years, to be able to use social networks, announced its Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, on Tuesday.

“I want to see kids off their devices and on soccer fields, swimming pools and tennis courts,” Albanese said.

“We want them to have real experiences with real people because we know that social media is causing social harm,” the leader insisted on the ABC television channel.

In a series of media interviews about this plan, Albanese explained that Your personal preference would be to block access to these platforms to those under 16 years of age. Conservative opposition leader Peter Dutton has given his support to the government’s bill. “Every day that passes leaves children vulnerable to the threats of social media,” he said.

Specialists consider it a hasty action

However, Experts doubt whether it is technically possible to impose a minimum age on social networks. “We know that the Current age verification methods They are not reliable, are too easy to bypass or put user privacy at risk,” said University of Melbourne associate professor of computer science and information technology Toby Murray.

Analysts also point out that Setting a minimum age could cause other problems. For Daniel Angus, a professor at Queensland University of Technology, the government’s plan is “imprudent” and “hasty” because it comes ahead of the final report of a parliamentary inquiry into the effects of social media on Australian society.

The plan “threatens to cause serious harm by excluding young people from meaningful and healthy participation in the digital world”says the expert, who heads the university’s digital media research unit.

Warning about the dangers of using cell phones or tablets in children

He Birkbeck Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development, University of London, warned about the dangers that spending too much time in front of touch screens represents for childrenThis habit could cause serious disorders in cognitive development.

Spending a lot of time in front of tablets or cell phones directly affects the attention level of the little ones. This makes them get distracted more quickly.

The study was conducted on 40 12-month-old babies. A very high number, who were used to using screens, showed a lack of attention and acute distraction.

children cell phone

Spending a lot of time in front of tablets or cell phones directly affects the attention level of children.

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In these cases, they found that infants have a much quicker gaze at objects that pass within their line of vision. This causes them to be distracted more easily and fail to focus in an appropriate manner.

“The early years of life are critical for children to learn to control their attention and ignore distractions, early skills that are known to be important for later academic performance,” said Tim Smith, part of the team that worked on this research.

Experts recommend not depriving children of the use of screens, but regulating the time they spend in front of them. Since 2013, there has been a 63% increase in the number of babies using touch screens.