taken by jurisdictions in Australia<\/a>, France, the United Kingdom, Malaysia and Indonesia, which have raised the minimum age for young people to access social media.<\/p>\nThe eight-member expert panel was formed in September to examine the impact of social media use on young people\u2019s mental health.<\/p>\n
The members come from the Institute of Mental Health, National University of Singapore, Nanyang Technological University, MOH, Touch Community Services, and KK Women\u2019s and Children\u2019s Hospital.<\/p>\n
The panel is co-chaired by chief and senior consultant of IMH\u2019s department of developmental psychiatry Lim Choon Guan and co-director of NUS\u2019 Social Service Research Centre Jungup Lee.<\/p>\n
In the 20-page report submitted to the Government, the panel highlighted direct messaging functions that may expose young users to cyberbullying and harassment as a problematic feature. The existence of anonymous or pseudonymous accounts could worsen the issue.<\/p>\n
Other problematic features identified in the report included infinite scroll and autoplay functions, which encourage users to remain engaged for longer than they intended to. Such online engagements may displace physical activity and in-person interactions that are essential for healthy development in young users.<\/p>\n
Algorithmically curated feeds was another feature of concern as it could amplify exposure to distressing or harmful content.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, social feedback mechanisms such as visible \u201clike\u201d counts and follower metrics encourage social comparison and validation-seeking, with potential negative effects on self-esteem and emotional well-being, according to the report.<\/p>\n
Indeed, the panel found that young people going through biological and psychological changes in their adolescence are more sensitive to social feedback and influences, and may not be well-equipped to manage social pressures online, critically evaluate online content or recognise manipulative design features.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs mental health conditions often emerge during adolescence, the negative impact of social media on young people\u2019s mental health could potentially have lasting consequences,\u201d said MOH in a media statement about the report on July 30.<\/p>\n
The panel\u2019s recommendations are aligned with Singapore\u2019s approach to push for safer social media platform designs to protect those under 18.<\/p>\n
Both Minister for Digital Development and Information Josephine Teo and Minister for Health Ong Ye Kung had spoken up against potentially problematic features such as algorithmic feeds, videos that play automatically and direct messaging by adults to young users.<\/p>\n
They had voiced Singapore\u2019s preference for a more calibrated approach to tackle harm instead of implementing a blanket age-based ban.<\/p>\n
Apart from addressing potentially harmful features, the panel also called for the strengthening of age assurance measures.<\/p>\n
\u201cRobust age assurance measures are a necessary foundation for regulating social media access for young users. Where platforms cannot reliably determine whether a user is a child or an adult, age-appropriate safeguards cannot be meaningfully applied or enforced,\u201d according to the report.<\/p>\n
Mother of three children Lavina Daryanani, 56, agreed with the panel\u2019s recommendations, noting that social media harms have become more pronounced over the years. Her youngest child is now 18.<\/p>\n
\u201cEducation starts from young,\u201d she said, adding that this means having conversations on boundaries and harmful online content. She hopes the Government will have more public education campaigns, including catchy music videos, to inculcate healthy digital habits in children.<\/p>\n
The parent mentor at Temasek Secondary School said that some young people she has worked with had become so immersed in online activities that they struggled to cope offline.<\/p>\n
Daryanani, a director at a yarn and textile firm, said that parents also need to set good examples. \u201cIf the parents are using the phone 24\/7, what do you expect from your own children?\u201d<\/p>\n
She encourages parents to have open conversations with their children, rather than police or criticise them to build trust.<\/p>\n
Since April, app stores operating in Singapore have rolled out a range of age assurance measures<\/a> such as facial scans and government identity verification, to control app downloads by those below 18. This is done to meet requirements in the Code of Practice for Online Safety for App Distribution Services enforced by the Infocomm Media Development Authority.<\/p>\nThe authority has plans to extend age assurance requirements to major social media services.<\/p>\n
Singapore\u2019s approach also involves empowering young people to navigate the online environment in safe and healthy ways, and support their parents in guiding them to do so.<\/p>\n
This is outlined in the panel\u2019s report, which also said that young people should be equipped with the judgment, critical thinking and healthy digital habits needed to navigate these spaces safely. The report, however, did not specify how this could be done.<\/p>\n
A whole-of-society response is also needed, recognising that no single intervention is sufficient on its own, according to the report.<\/p>\n
This means that families, schools, healthcare providers, community partners, platform operators and the Government need to work together to safeguard and support young people\u2019s well-being.<\/p>\n
\u201cUltimately, protecting young people in the digital age is a shared responsibility, and will require sustained commitment from all parts of society,\u201d said the report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SINGAPORE \u2013 An expert panel formed by the Ministry of Health (MOH) is discouraging an age-based blanket ban…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":833409,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[64,63,137,514,515],"class_list":["post-833408","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mental-health","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-health","tag-mental-health","tag-mentalhealth"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/833408","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=833408"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/833408\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/833409"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=833408"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=833408"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=833408"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}