Ad campaign re banning social media for U16s - If it was a cigarette we'd have banned it by now!

[JustineMumsnet]

Hey all,
As some of you may already have seen, this week we’re launching a new national advertising campaign as part of Rage Against the Screen (see attached).

The campaign focuses on the damage parents tell us smartphones and social media addiction are doing to their children’s mental health and wellbeing. The creative draws on cigarette-style health warnings, placing stark, back-of-pack style messages on phone packaging to underline what many families now see as a serious public health issue. The imagery is deliberately uncompromising, designed to make the risks harder to ignore.

I know some Mumsnet users will find the images shocking or upsetting, and we didn’t make that decision lightly. But it’s clear from conversations on the site that social media addiction and its consequences for our kids are not abstract concerns. Many of you have shared experiences of compulsive use, lost sleep, anxiety, depression and plummeting self-esteem.

This campaign isn’t about blaming parents or judging individual choices. Tech companies spend billions and employ some of the smartest people in the world to engineer products that keep children hooked. Expecting families to counter that alone is not realistic. We need government to step up.

We’re launching now because this is a pivotal moment. The government has announced a consultation on introducing a legal age limit for social media. That means decisions are being shaped right now.

When we polled Mumsnet users, 92% of parents told us they’re concerned about the impact of social media on children’s mental health and wellbeing, and 83% said they support a ban for under-16s. This isn’t a fringe view. It reflects a clear and consistent message from families.

If you’d like to add your voice, please use our quick and easy guide to contact your MP and tell them you support a ban for under-16s.

As always, we’d really like to hear what you think, so do share your views below.
Justine

Cigarette warnings are a really bad model, given their cult, gothic following. People like the pictures of fascinatingly degraded lungs, bleeding brains and babies 'smoking' dummies. These warnings with words like 'suicide' in them are going to attract exactly the sort of susceptible young people you're trying to deter.

I have thought about what actually makes teenagers happy, I think that though social media can make teenagers unhappy it doesn’t affect all nationalities in the same way. For example in the Nordic countries social media use is high but so is teen happiness. It seems that other things affect happiness more. Like the possibility of social mobility. We need to educate young people about social media, at home and at school. How to use it safely and responsibly. Warning yes, but also talk about how to use it to make things better, social media campaigns can have positive effects as well as negative ones. Talking about the impacts in a way that allows genuine debate amongst teenagers would really help. We all need to think about how to make social media more positive.