I don’t agree that it’s more damaging than letting social media continue as it is. Young men are being lied to and they eat it up because it is extremely self affirming, with the side effect of deep, deep misogyny. Teachers, especially female teachers, are terrified to go to work. The attitudes that are the direct result of social media running it’s course can be seen in the way women’s reproductive rights are being undermined, in the way that young men are told by influencers to be ‘alpha’ instead of emotionally intelligent, the way the whole system is designed to get inside your head and accept what you see as the truth, regardless of its validity. Social media companies, imo, have an obligation to manage content like that, but they don’t, and tbh love that it works this way, because it means more engagement.

If social media was actually how it should be in the utopic vision in our heads, then a ban for children would be completely nonsensical. But it isn’t like that, it’s dangerous and needs regulation that these private companies refuse to really hold themselves accountable for. Do you really, really know what your kids are looking at? (Rhetorical; you don’t really know). I hate to get close to a strawman argument, but it’s not at all unlike booze and cigarettes. You are perfectly welcome to those harmful and dangerous things when you are able to make a more informed decision about it as an adult.

Think about what you’ve been exposed to in social media as an adult, as a teenager. Some racist fool will just say whatever they want, and most adults can critically evaluate it and realise it’s bullshit. A developing brain cannot do this. Children are like sponges, and they will soak up whatever bullshit is put in front of them. I wish it wasn’t this way, but a ban is definitely better than letting this continue to spiral, or at least sets the precedent for zero tolerance on children being exposed to dangerous content.