Debating social media censorship: Pro
Social media has the planet in a chokehold, and our vision is fading fast.
Forbes released that 4.9 billion people used social media daily in 2023, and at this rate, the number is expected to rise to 5.85 billion by 2027. Over half of the Earth’s population is logged in for two hours a day on average. If this isn’t alarming to you, it should be.
Social media has been around since the late 90s with sites like SixDegrees.com and Friendster, but only after Facebook’s launch in 2003 did social media really start to have a grip on society. That grip has been tightening over the last 21 years and shows zero signs of slowing down.
Shouldn’t there be a limit on how much of our lives we give to the algorithm? It is built to be addictive, made to keep you coming back, looking for anything that you might have missed because you need to know what your friends are doing without you.
To say the least, this chronic usage is extremely unhealthy, as studies have shown. Social media should be under much stricter regulation for matters of child safety, data protection and people’s overall well-being.
But social media is already regulated, you say; they have community guidelines and age limits clearly displayed when you go to download the apps. Do they really? Or are those things just in place to absolve these companies of any legal trouble they might run into due to user-generated content?
I think there should be strict, closely monitored age and time limits on any form of social media that is not made primarily for business. Aside from LinkedIn, this includes all of the major platforms: Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, YouTube, TikTok, Reddit and X (formerly known as Twitter).
The regulations should require a user to be at least 16 years old to join, and time online should be stopped after four to five hours each day. It is way too easy to lie about your age on sites like this, which plays a big part in the issue of child safety. Measures should be put in place to accurately verify a user’s age before they are granted an account.
We cannot control what people say online without impeding on free speech, but we can protect the young by separating them from it until they are ready to participate in online forums.
As for those who are mature enough to handle the void that is social media, time limits online are important, because it can and will consume your time, attention and mind. According to Psychology Today, average Americans will check their phones 159 times a day. Those of us born in the tech generation are definitely above average.
We only have one mind, and damage done to it is very hard to repair or reverse, so it is extremely important that we take care of what we have. There is a large part of the population who use social media to make money, which merges these platforms with our daily lives even more. These apps are parasitic, and even though it would be impractical to stop usage altogether, limits are desperately needed.
If these restrictions were implemented at a global level, social activity in the real world would increase, and people might find other more productive hobbies that let them rest mentally. With less people online at a time, misinformation and the false reality of social media would spread much slower. This would lead to less comparing of ourselves to what we think others are, and mental health issues connected to social media would decline.
Everything in moderation. Social media can be an amazing tool, but too much of anything is poisonous.
Barber is an opinion writer for the Liberty Champion