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Some Manitoba youth say an outright ban on social media and artificial-intelligence chatbot use for youth may be a step too far after Premier Wab Kinew announced the province’s intention to restrict children and teens from accessing them.
Kinew floated the first-in-Canada ban at a fundraising event in Winnipeg on Saturday, saying the proposed law would protect youth from the potentially harmful and addictive effects of social media.
“These platforms are not neutral. They have been built this way to maximize engagement,” Kinew said at the event. “They amplify comparisons between yourself and artificial standards, they amplify outrage and they expose kids to content they’re not ready for.”
While Saturday’s announcement didn’t specify which age range would fall under the proposed ban, Kinew told CBC’s Rosemary Barton that it would apply to youth aged 16 and under.
“I think it’s really important for the mental health of young people and just the freedom for young people to be kids while they’re growing up,” Kinew said during an interview on Rosemary Barton Live, adding childhood should be “the prime years of helping the young brain grow.”
Gabriel Tapper-Goldsman, 15, doesn’t agree. He said banning social media and AI chatbots for some youth would “will only bring Manitoba down.”
He said connecting with far-away friends from across Canada and the United States via social media helped him get through the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We’re in a day and age where we make friends all over the world and one of the most important and vital things is to keep in contact with those friends,” Tapper-Goldsman said.
He said it would be unfair for some Canadian kids to have access to social media and AI chatbots, while others don’t. He said losing access could make it harder for Manitoba youth to get ahead in an AI-driven future.
However, Tapper-Goldsman said he supports restricting access for children under the age of 12 or 13.
“I feel like there should be age restrictions on it, but not as far as the length the premier wants to go. I feel like he’s taking it a step too far,” he said.
Sixteen-year-old Lily Wassing said she’s all for banning AI chatbots for youth under 16, but blocking social media for her cohort could make it harder for teens to connect.
“I wholeheartedly agree with AI chatbots,” Wassing said, raising concerns about people who rely heavily on AI for simple tasks. “For the social media thing, I agree to a point.”
“There are definitely some things on social media that younger people should not be exposed to, but I think if they were to ban it, it would be better for … 13 and under maybe,” she said, adding time restrictions could also be a useful tool to limit scrolling.
Not having access to social media would make it hard to plan group projects or connect with teammates, she said. But she also said cutting out social media could make her life “a lot less stressful.”
Yelyzaveta Savchenko, 16, said using social media extensively can have negative consequences. But she’s not in favour of an all-out ban.
Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew told CBC News chief political correspondent Rosemary Barton that he plans to introduce legislation banning social media use for teenagers in the province who are 16 and under.
“A lot of them are bad when it’s used extensively. But it could also be that AI and social media could also be very, very useful for our age,” she said.
Savchenko said she’d support banning ChatGPT for her age group, but said artificial intelligence tools like Turbo AI and Astro AI can help youth get ahead in their studies.
“Not everything deserves to be banned, I think,” she said.
Manitoba’s intention to ban social media and AI chatbot use comes several months after Australia enacted the world’s first social media ban for children under 16.
Parent Keri Bacon, who has followed news about Australia’s ban, said she was “super excited” to hear about Manitoba’s plan, calling the move “a step that the province needs to take.”
“Kids shouldn’t be exposed to many of the things that they are,” said Bacon.
“I feel like their childhood has been kind of stolen [by] social media and screens.”
Nour Hamdm said she also supports a social media ban. She’s hopeful that the measure could help parents keep their kids safe and reduce screen time in the process.
Her son Qais Abujabal, 10, thinks it’s a good idea to ban AI chatbots — they’re wasting too much water and harming the environment, he says.
“I think it’s weird to be talking to artificial intelligence … there’s 8 billion people in the world … you could go outside to talk with your friends instead of talking with AI,” he said.
But blocking some kids from social media could make it hard to connect with loved ones who live far away, he said. He said kids aged 10 and up should be allowed to use the platforms.
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