\u201cI still found myself at 42 getting trapped into the dopamine hit that comes with social media.”<\/p>\n
It means Mowbray doesn\u2019t have the same instant point of contact that other parents do with their children when they are away from home.<\/p>\n
She says her eldest child is probably the only student in his year group at boarding school without a phone.<\/p>\n
\u201cI do believe in the value of it long term. I just deeply want my children to have to connect, to have to ask for help and get support, to need to go to the office and pick up the landline to call Mum and Dad,\u201d Mowbray says.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo be honest, the kids do not push back.\u201d<\/p>\n
The recent selection of two digital harm bills from Parliament\u2019s biscuit tin means the House will soon face debate around technology and the rights of individuals.<\/p>\n
Act MP Laura McClure\u2019s bill to criminalise sexually explicit \u2018deepfake\u2019 images was drawn on Thursday along with National MP Catherine Wedd\u2019s bill to deny access to most social media platforms for under-16s.<\/p>\n
Act MP Laura McClure showing an AI generated deepfake nude photo of herself in the House.<\/p>\n
The high-profile B416 group, backed by other prominent businesswomen including Herald columnist Cecilia Robinson<\/a>, is pressuring the Government to enforce the ban. It argues teenagers over 16 will be better equipped to handle the addictive elements of social media as their brains are further developed.<\/p>\n However, on the other side of the debate, there are vocal critics, including the Act Party, who argue a blanket social media ban will be ineffective and age-verification will be too difficult for the Government to impose on young people.<\/p>\n Victoria University media and communications lecturer Dr Alex Beattie says the proposed social media ban is regulating young people rather than holding tech companies accountable.<\/p>\n Beattie believes the ban in its current form is being stoked by \u201cfear\u201d and a misunderstanding of social media, rather than being evidence-based.<\/p>\n \u201cParents are concerned about changing norms and this perception that young people can\u2019t communicate face-to-face or answer the phone and are glued to their devices.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is part of what we call a moral panic and is less about evidence-based harm and more about changing morals or norms.\u201d<\/p>\n The most recent OECD data from 2018 showed that Aotearoa youth were using digital devices 42 hours per week on average, compared to 35 hours globally. However, Auckland University of Technology (AUT) studies showed further increases in screen time since then, with a spike during the Covid pandemic.<\/p>\n Earlier this week, Whangapar\u0101oa College principal Steve McCracken said his school would be spending $300,000 a year on extra counselling support for students due to a rise in mental health-related issues caused by social media.<\/p>\n In an open letter published in the Herald<\/a> this month, Sacred Heart College principal Patrick Walsh, who has been a school principal for more than 20 years, said the reality was that through social media, the normalisation of harm was now occurring for young people.<\/p>\n Students could be exposed to bullying, sexting, addiction to gaming, sleep deprivation, anxiety and sexualised violence on social media platforms.<\/p>\n \u201cMany young people tell us they\u2019re on their phones until 3am, fuelled by energy drinks, unable to switch off,\u201d Walsh wrote.<\/p>\n \u201cThey arrive at school exhausted, disengaged, and withdrawn. They\u2019re living in a parallel universe \u2013 constantly scrolling, constantly stimulated, yet ironically isolated.”<\/p>\n In Mowbray\u2019s eyes, children are sacrificing time spent on outdoor play and vital social interactions for multiple hours glued to screens.<\/p>\n She is concerned with the way social media algorithms can serve up unmoderated, sexually explicit or violent content to young people.<\/p>\n When her youngest child came home from school after another student showed her a video of the Charlie Kirk assassination, it alarmed her.<\/p>\n \u201cHow is that good for society? How is that good for that child? In no world do I see that as being a fair way to raise a child when they don\u2019t know what they\u2019re about to see … because the algorithm has delivered that content,\u201d she says.<\/p>\nDr Alex Beattie says a social media ban is placing restrictions on young people instead of forcing tech companies to change.<\/p>\n