I grew up using social media, an experience which shaped my life in unimaginable ways. But it was in 2022, when I lost my sister Aimee, that I really began to take notice of the impact of online harm.
Aimee, who was 21 when she died, had been isolated from both her family and mental health support by a toxic pro-suicide website and its members, who encouraged and assisted in taking her life.
It’s hard to believe that despite the increasing public support for stricter online safety laws, sinister websites which encourage and assist suicide on a systematic scale, have evaded all accountability, from the government and Ofcom.
Bereaved families like mine have been ignored and dismissed, and despite 65 warnings from coroners to the government, the failure to take action has cost 133 UK lives.
Rather than a blanket ban on social media for under 16s, I believe a ban on addictive design would be a better long term solution.
In practice, a ban on addictive design could eradicate the online harms – be it self-harm material, grooming and coercion, eating disorder content, or social media addiction more broadly – issues that people of all ages are facing right now.
I worry that a blanket ban on social media for under 16s risks subjecting young people to a cliff face of harmful content once they gain access.
What young people need is the government to actually hold big tech companies to account – a ban on the addictive business model that sends teens down rabbit holes of consuming harmful content would make social media safer.
READ MORE: ‘Teens risk sinister online experience if social media ban goes ahead’
A ban only risks punishing children for our failure to regulate social media platforms over the past 20 years.
Everyone reading this has the right to shape our digital world. So far, the digital future has been gatekept by a handful of billionaires, but we collectively need to reject the impostor syndrome that makes us believe the myth that they’re the only people equipped to speak on technology. In reality, the users are the experts.
Talk to your friends and peers about the frustrations you have with social media, as this will make you realise you’re far from alone and that — unlike the way social media forces us to think we’re isolated — our experiences are actually all connected.
Technology needs to be designed with the principle of safety by design.
This isn’t a big ask— if you applied these standards to any other product you use daily, be it your toaster or your car, you would expect to use it safely, and if not, these companies would go out of business. Social media companies should not be an exception to this rule.
Visit the Molly Rose Foundation for help and support with any of the topics covered.
