Is 16 a good age to limit the use of social media?

Spain is the latest country with plans to place limits on the age of use for social media. Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez announced on Tuesday that the country will prohibit access to social networks for those under 16, and will require digital platforms to incorporate effective age verification systems. This follows in the footsteps of Australia, which introduced similar regulation in December, and which France and Portugal are planning to adopt as well. Among experts in the digital and educational fields, some believe that limiting access to social networks will allow teenagers to become more mature in facing risks, while others demand that age verification be done securely and efficiently.

But others question the arbitrary nature of the age limit, arguing that in some countries, at that age, one can already drive, vote, or have completed compulsory education. Beyond the age limit, the discussion also extends to examining how minors use social media, what content they consume, what are the most popular browsing times, and whether the design of these platforms should also be regulated.

Eight out of ten students in Spain get their first cellphone at age 11, and almost all young people between the ages of 10 and 20 (92.5%) are registered on some social network, according to the UNICEF report “Childhood, Adolescence and Digital Wellbeing,” published last November. The study warns that 5.7% of children and teens have excessive and uncontrolled online activity, which interferes with their daily lives and is associated with symptoms of anxiety, depression, and suicidal thoughts.

Ismael Sanz, a researcher at the Spanish think tank Funcas, believes that raising the age to 16 is a good measure. “We know that social media use harms the emotional balance and well-being of young people, as well as reducing their ability to concentrate and pay attention,” he said in statements to the news agency EFE.

But Catalina Perazzo, director of Social and Political Advocacy at Save the Children, warns in a conversation with EFE that the measure “is not a solution in itself,” and that “it can give a false sense of security,” making it “essential that it be accompanied by efficient age verification mechanisms and, above all, education and support in making responsible use of it.”

For José César Perales, a professor in the Department of Experimental Psychology at the University of Granada, it is “a hasty measure, taken with little quality evidence, but relatively easy to implement politically and in terms of public support,” he told the SMC Spain website. The academic describes the 16-year age threshold as “conservative.” According to Perales, “there is no unanimous agreement” that social media has an impact on mental health. “It is easier to make a decision regarding a ban on access than decisions that would probably be much more effective and that have to do with regulating the social media platforms themselves,” he argues.

In that regard, he explains that companies “have hardly any limitations when it comes to the design of networks or devices” and that, if the mechanisms through which mental health and social media use are linked were better understood, this design could be regulated. “Increasing algorithmic transparency or influencing how those algorithms are designed would be much more effective,” he concludes.

Some experts highlight the risks that identity detection mechanisms can pose to user privacy. Paloma Llaneza, a security consultant specializing in the legal and regulatory aspects of the internet, says: “We need to find systems that allow us to verify age, but with due anonymity, which may seem strange, but it can be done technically,” according to the SMC site. She also points out that validating identity with a credit card is no guarantee that it belongs to the user, and that facial biometric recognition stores “physical markers” that “can be recognized anywhere in the world.”

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