The following is excerpted from an online article posted by StudyFinds
School smartphone bans are spreading across many U.S. states. Australia banned teens under 16 from social media. Parents are installing surveillance software on their kids’ devices. All of it sounds like common sense: keep children away from danger. But according to a new analysis published in Science, these well-intentioned restrictions may not work as intended and can sometimes backfire, doing more damage than good.
Their conclusion is blunt: blanket bans, parental control requirements, and one-size-fits-all access rules often erode the very trust between kids and adults that keeps children safe.
Worse, these restrictions can push tech use underground, where children are even more vulnerable and less likely to ask for help when something goes wrong.
Instead of doubling down on fear-driven bans, the authors argue for something very different: designing digital spaces that actively support children’s safety, resilience, and development from the ground up. It is a shift from what they call a “politics of fear” to a “politics of possibility,” one grounded in evidence from psychology, education, and computer science rather than parental anxiety or political convenience.
Source: StudyFinds
https://studyfinds.com/banning-kids-from-social-media-might-actually-make-things-worse/