MANILA, Philippines — Two medical groups warned against the unsupervised use of social media by children aged 16 years old and below, saying that it poses risks to a child’s mental health and development.
In a statement on Facebook on Friday, the Philippine Pediatric Society (PPS) said it does not recommend social media use among children 16 and below. Should they be given access, the group said children should not be allowed to use social media independently.
“Accounts should be comanaged by a parent or guardian, with active supervision, clear boundaries, and age-appropriate guidance, particularly for individuals with developmental and psychosocial vulnerabilities,” it said.
READ: Blanket ban on social media may push minors to riskier platforms
The Philippine Society for Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics (PSDBP) supported this position. It noted that some of its members have directly observed and managed the consequences of unregulated social media use in young patients.
It said that anxiety, emotional dysregulation, sleep disturbance, and worsening behavioral and developmental symptoms are among the clinical cases they have encountered.
According to PPS, children and adolescents are in “sensitive and critical periods of neurodevelopment.” Their capacity for impulse control, emotional regulation, judgment and social functioning is “still maturing.”
The brain systems that govern regulation, decision-making and long-term planning continue to develop as an individual reaches the mid-20s, it said.
READ: Social media ban pushed anew for kids 16 and below
Age not only factor
“Because reward and emotional reactivity systems mature earlier than prefrontal inhibitory systems, younger users are more susceptible to highly stimulating, attention-capturing and commercially driven digital environments,” PPS said.
“They need meaningful guidance to navigate these spaces safely.”
The group noted that the age of 16 is regarded as a “population-level protective threshold” for establishing public health safeguards, consistent with emerging international policies.
It clarified, however, that the readiness for social media should not be determined by age alone, saying that “developmental capacity, vulnerability and quality of caregiver supervision remain important considerations.”
Parents and guardians are in the best position to assess their child’s particular needs and provide them with the necessary protection, PPS said.
The group acknowledged that digital platforms also provide benefits as it can serve as a tool for communication, learning, social participation and civic engagement.
But PPS warned that social media also carried risks, including exposure to harmful content, development of compulsive use patterns, sleep disruption, as well as measurable harm to one’s mental health and development.
Designed to be addictive
It called for the adoption of a “safety-by-design framework,” in which digital platforms are required to restrict or disable features that may capitalize on children’s developmental vulnerabilities.
These include, among others, features that increase exposure to harmful or age-inappropriate content.”
The group also raised concerns regarding addictive engagement design, harmful algorithms, absence of digital sunset functions that call for devices to be turned off a few hours before bed, and inadequate age verification measures.
It said social media increased the risk of cyberbullying, unsafe online interactions and exploitation by “online predators,” who disguise themselves as children to gain trust.
PPS called for digital platforms to have clear child safety standards, understandable default protections for minors, accessible reporting and redress mechanisms, as well as disclosure of features that may affect a child’s well-being.
“Platforms must support the protective role of parents, caregivers, schools and communities by providing safer default environments, age-appropriate safeguards and practical tools for families,” it said.
A 2021 study by Unicef Philippines that interviewed children age 9 to 17 years old found that Facebook, including Facebook Messenger, was the most popular social media app among the youth in the country, followed by YouTube, Instagram, X, and Wikipedia.
The majority of the children said they accessed the internet through a smartphone, followed by a desktop computer, a feature phone, tablet, laptop, and game console.
Bills seeking restriction
Several bills have been filed in both the Senate and the House of Representatives to protect children against the harmful effects of unrestricted access to social media.
Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian’s Senate Bill No. 2066, or the Social Media Safety for Children Act, filed last April, seeks to prohibit minors under 16 from registering, accessing, or maintaining accounts on social media platforms.
Platform providers will be required to implement age and identity verification systems, conduct regular audits to detect and deactivate accounts of underage users, and establish reporting and response mechanisms to prevent violations.
A year earlier, Sen. Panfilo Lacson filed Senate Bill No. 40, prohibiting minors (age 18 and below) from accessing or using social media services. Lacson cited studies linking excessive social media exposure to mental health issues.
At the House, Misamis Oriental Rep. Jennifer Lagbas filed House Bill No. 7714, also known as Social Media Regulation and Protection Act, to regulate the access by minors (below 13 years of age) to social media platforms, ensuring age verification and parental consent, and providing protections for children online.
Cibac Rep. Eduardo “Bro. Eddie” Villanueva, filed House Bill No. 8262, or the Social Media Protection for Minors Act, in March. It seeks to protect minors from social media harms by establishing a minimum age for social media access (16 and below) and imposing obligations on social media platforms.
There is a growing global movement to strengthen online safety for children amid mounting concerns that young people are being harmed by exposure to unregulated social media content. Governments around the world are enacting or considering measures to restrict children’s access to social media.
Countries that impose social media regulations and penalties for violations cite cyberbullying, harmful, violent or pornographic content, addiction, mental health risks, and online predators to justify the measures.
The common elements in regulating children’s access to social media include setting a minimum age—16 in Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Brazil, Britain and Canada—and 15 in other countries like Turkey, France and the United Arab Emirates.
They also require age verification mechanisms instead of self-declaration (such as checking boxes that indicate the user is over 18). Minors below the minimum age are prohibited from creating or maintaining social media accounts, not just accessing content.
Noncompliance is heavily fined. Australia is imposing a fine of up to A$49.5 million and Malaysia up to 10 million ringgit.
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In some countries, laws incorporate involvement of parents or guardians, like requiring minors to link their accounts to a legal guardian. —WITH A REPORT FROM INQUIRER RESEARCH
