A new poll found 70.7 percent support restricting teenagers’ social media use, though most teens oppose the idea.
Seven in 10 Koreans said they support the introduction of policies restricting social media use by teenagers, a poll showed Tuesday, amid growing concerns over the excessive use of such platforms.
In the survey conducted on 1,000 respondents aged 14 to 58, 70.7 percent said they support such a policy, while 29.3 percent said they oppose it, according to the poll conducted by the Korea Press Foundation last month.
Among teen respondents, who accounted for one-fifth of the total, 59 percent said they oppose the plan, while 41 percent said they support it.
When asked what age would be appropriate to impose such a restriction, 16.8 percent of all the respondents picked 15, followed by 14.9 percent who picked 18 and 13.1 percent who picked 11 and younger.
A majority of respondents, however, said even introducing such a policy would have limitations in restricting social media use by teens, citing the possibility of adolescent users using other people’s accounts or moving to new, unrestricted platforms.
Against such a backdrop, 59.8 percent said platforms should do more to create a safe environment for social media usage rather than imposing a restriction on their users, the poll showed.
In July, the country’s media watchdog floated the idea of imposing a social media restriction against children aged 14 and younger, noting that excessive social media use by teenagers has become a global problem.
Yonhap
