As a politically interested 18-year-old with far more sympathy for the Norwegian left than the right, it is rare for me to be as happy to read a Conservative politician’s chronicle as when I read Nikolai Astrup’s post about the age limit on social media. I was born in 2004, and therefore belong to one of the cohorts that have been most influenced by social media growing up. So take it from someone with good experience: it’s not fun, and it’s not healthy. Parents can be as cool and “in touch” with their youth as they want, but you still don’t want to understand everything that your children are exposed to in the digital arena. Astrup mentions the booze taxi, prostitutes and pedophiles, but it’s really only a fraction. A friendship between two 10-year-olds can crumble when one posts an ugly picture of the other. Two 14-year-olds can post nude photos of each other – photos that won’t disappear – because they are insecure. You can be radicalized in any direction. You can get a sugar daddy or an eating disorder, maybe even both. I’ve always been irritated by adults who respond with “so just delete all the apps” when we complain about social media. Because it’s not that simple. For me, the digital arena has been as important a social platform as the canteen during recess or the sports halls after school. Saying “just delete all the apps” to a teenager who is bored is like saying “just start homeschooling” to a school refuser. It is not a solution. Because when at least half of the social events are digital, you miss out on a lot if you don’t sign up. As I said, it is not often that I applaud Conservative politicians’ posts, but Nikolai Astrup has written one of the most important debate posts for young people’s health in a long time, in my opinion. A real age limit on social media would save future generations from many scary and uncertain impressions. Impressions that have made my generation angry and depressed, and that have contributed to Forskning.no being able to report that young people are more pessimistic about the future than before and that FHI finds that girls aged 13-24 have reported increased stress levels. Because when 9-year-olds have the worst of humanity only a few keystrokes away, then you can’t expect them to grow up thinking that the world is beautiful. The only solution to these problems is not to make social media the important social platform right from primary school age. Let children be children, let them draw when they are bored and let them have social arenas that allow them to be present in the moment, and not make them stress further. Because social media are thieves of time, and they are thieves of happiness. Take it from a frustrated and fed-up ’04er, who has had her childhood stolen from her by TikTok, Instagram and Snapchat, and who doesn’t feel like she has any control over her own future: Put an age limit, please!
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The lucky thieves – Speech
