Minnie’s Musings

Anyone who thinks a ban on social media for under 16s will work is surely whistling in the wind. Do they know teenagers? Are they aware how ingenious they can be in pursuit of their hearts desire.

As I was want to observe to the odd Year 9 or 10, “If that homework platform was a level in Fortnight you’d have worked out how to make it function in an instant.”

The motivation behind this radical action is one of concern and compassion, particularly for those who have lost children under the influence of suicide sites or ones promoting eating disorders. And let’s not start on the misogynistic claptrap that was the hot topic last year.

It is a mystery to me why social media platforms are seemingly immune to the strictures that impact on the activities of their print and broadcast cousins.Libel and slander are about dissemination. You can sue the paperboy for delivering (literally) an untruth for crying out loud.

Public backlash has caused powerful editors to beat a rapid retreat. There is a reason that only a fraction of the country saw the “GOTCHA” headline on the front page of The Sun following the sinking of the Belgrano. They literally stopped the press as the proverbial hit the proverbial.

The big problem is twofold. Firstly these platforms operate globally so individual states take different approaches to “freedom of speech” etc. secondly, the proprietors of said platforms are peddling a lie that they are not publishers that they seem to believe themselves.

In the short term we, as adults, have collective power. We have in the income that advertisers are targeting. We can collectively say we don’t want to see damaging, violent, sexist, racist, homophobic content. We can boycott sites that promote misogyny. We can stop clicking on the bait. The advertisers will lose revenue. They will investigate why. They will apply pressure. And the content will disappear. Simple.

But we don’t. Not because we can’t, but because we are bemoaning the effects of this poison while we cheerfully click away, unaware of the example we are setting. We do not see the hypocrisy and impact of our own behaviour.

The appeal of forbidden fruit won’t evaporate. A teenage boy won’t miraculously decide that a monastic existence is infinitely more appealing than viewing porn. Teenage girls and boys will always compare their appearance with an ideal, whether it’s the popular miss sashaying down the corridor or a beauty influencer bearing her sculpted behind on any available screen.

So when you are next presented with a smartphone screen by a colleague/friend/partner gasping “Have you seen this?!” In a tone of shocked horror that invites fetid interest. Think about whether you want to see it, whether a young person should see it, whether it is appropriate to be “out there”. And walk away, without a glance, without sharing, without participating. And polish your halo as you have just joined the land of the thoughtful, responsible and conscientious.