It could be safe to say that social media is a major part of the everyday lives on several teens. A study performed by the Pew Research Center reported 92 percent of teens go online daily, thus having access to apps such as Twitter and Instagram. These teens can spend hours upon into social media. In fact, a report conducted by the Common Sense Media discovered the average teen spends about nine hours in overall media usage per day, including social media itself.
However, just imagine what these youngsters would do if they were restricted from social media until they were almost adults.
It’s a nightmare, right? But it might soon transition into reality for youth living in Europe. The European Union is pushing for a law which will allow countries in the Union to set their own media restriction laws, ranging from the regular age of 13 to as high as age 16. This could result in millions of children lost from the vast universe of social media.
Such limits could potentially stir controversy in the near future; some argue that using social media at a young age promotes early connections and provides access to news updates, encouraging world and community knowledge. On the other side of the issue, one could completely negate such benefits and could say social media is a place for common cyberbullying and infiltrates the time of our youth in which they could be educating themselves.
BearingNews asked four students what their perspective is on the European Union’s recent decision. What is your stance on their ruling? Leave your thoughts and comments below!
What is your stance on the European Union’s recent decision regarding social media in youth?