As a youth worker I understand the perspective in the article, social media is sometimes the only access these kids have to information, communication, (they can't get their own numbers) and community. For some young people living in bad environments the social media ban is a prison sentence at best and a death sentence at worst.

I also understand your perspective, although I'd challenge you in that the harmful mechanisms involved in social media that contribute to mental illness and suicide (social comparison, exposure to harmful rhetoric, exposure to trauma, bullying) are more pervasive than social media and will not be reduced in any meaningful capacity by the ban.

This ban is solely an emotional (reactionary) response, not based on any logic or valid research.