Teens and their devices: Bans are not the best way to go

Knee-jerk calls to restrict social media use among young people can backfire. There are other ways to help teens.

- Andrew Z H Yee and Lim Sun Sun

In a little corner of Instagram, some young Malay activists in Singapore are using the account @LepakConversations to highlight and unpack Malay/Muslim issues by conducting dialogues both online and offline. It seems that no issue is too awkward or too challenging, and they have discussed the full gamut - from negative Malay stereotypes to challenges facing the Malay community on male mental health. It is a lively space where people engage with diverse perspectives while offering mutual support and validation.

Over on TikTok, 29-year-old Singaporean Andreana Tay has more than nine million views and over one million likes for her top video where she explains how her non-verbal, autistic teen sister adorably asks to share her food through body language, gestures and giggles. Ms Tay's videos have helped to raise awareness of not only the struggles of living with autism, but also the joys and gratifications autistic people experience, humanising rather than diminishing them. Her videos capturing how she cares for her sister have drawn scores of supportive comments, including those from people who also have autistic family members.

And yet, despite such uplifting stories, we hear growing calls worldwide for measures like smartphone bans and social media restrictions for teens.

These exhortations typically assert that youth mental health is deteriorating due to growing social media use, and that restricting device and social media use is key to boosting mental wellness. Indeed, there are already campaigns in countries such as the Netherlands, US and Britain for smartphone bans in schools, and the Australian Parliament has just passed a social media ban for children under 16.

But in a technologising world, are bans a sensible or even practicable solution? It is how one experiences social media that matters.