Are teen social media bans a silver bullet?
5/6/202636 min
Australia was the first country to adopt a ban. Canada’s federal government is signaling that something is coming from them soon. A recent Angus Reid poll found 75 per cent of Canadians support the idea.
But even among those who acknowledge the harm social media causes for young people, the answer is not so clear cut.
We’re joined by Taylor Owen, the Beaverbrook Chair in Media, Ethics and Communications at McGill University. He’s a part of the federal government’s expert advisory group on online safety and on its AI strategy taskforce. He makes the argument that a ban isn’t a silver bullet and that we need to focus on making social media safer for everyone.
For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts
Clips
Transcript preview
First 90 secondsWab Kinew· Soundbite0:01
What are we doing today?
Taylor Owen· Guest0:01
We're going to save some puppies.
Speaker 20:03
[laughs] When there's a dog in need, Brady Oliveira and Alex Blumberg are hitting the ground running. Catch the new series Must Love Dogs, a heartwarming show about a dog-loving couple and Brady's life as a running back for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and a CFL All-Star. Must Love Dogs, stream now on CBC Gem.
Wab Kinew· Soundbite0:26
[upbeat music] [upbeat music] This is a CBC podcast.
Jayme Poisson· Host0:32
[upbeat music] Hey, everybody. I'm Jamie Poisson. [upbeat music] A couple months back, we did this interview with Jonathan Haidt. He's a social psychologist and author of The Anxious Generation, and he made a really compelling case for why social media is awful for kids and teenagers and why he's been pushing for countries to ban platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok for kids under 16. Australia was the first country to adopt the ban. Manitoba recently announced that it will do its own, and Canada's federal government is signaling that something is coming from them soon. An under-16 social media ban is super popular here. A recent Angus Reid poll found 75% of Canadians support it. But even among those who acknowledge the harm social media causes for young people, the answer is not so clear-cut.