Germany considers banning social media for most children

[0:00] The debate over social media use by teens is raging on. [0:04] In the United States, tech giants Meta and Google were just handed back-to-back losses [0:09] in lawsuits against them in New Mexico and California. [0:13] Overseas, Germany is looking to ban social media, or at least make it harder to access, [0:18] for young people, something Australia did last year. [0:21] From Berlin, special correspondent Malcolm Brabant reports. [0:24] These bright young students in a top Berlin high school reach for their smartphones as [0:32] soon as there's a break in lessons. [0:34] They head straight to social media sites that might soon be outlawed if Germany's governing [0:39] party has its way. [0:42] This 21st century version of prohibition is a timely subject for the English class of [0:47] teacher Dala Sheikh. [0:49] What did you learn? [0:51] What are strong arguments in favor? [0:55] And strong arguments in opposition of a social media ban? [1:01] What do you feel like? [1:02] I often see girls that look perfect and sometimes I think, yeah, I would love to look like them [1:12] or they look like they have features I don't have and stuff like that. [1:18] So yeah, I kind of compare myself. [1:20] Some people can feel like depressed because they don't have like such a perfect life or [1:26] something like that. [1:27] Even I know. [1:28] I know how bad and how they affect my mental health and how much time they take away from [1:34] things that are more important in my life. [1:37] Experts say these experiences are just the tip of a more sinister psychological iceberg. [1:43] People younger than 13 years old, they should not be on social media. [1:47] Their brain, their ability, their resilience, their ability to deal with the content and [1:52] the functionality is just not in place yet. [1:54] And therefore, they shouldn't be on social media. [1:58] Professor Raab. [1:58] Ralph Hervig is a psychologist who specializes in human judgment and decision making. [2:04] He's a leading advocate for a ban. [2:06] Think about this endless scrolling, for instance, but also the content. [2:11] If you think about pornography, if you think about violence, cruelty, hate, etc., then [2:18] this comes at a point where there are critical developmental windows for the developing brain. [2:25] And we have to think about, and there is increasing evidence, that there is, you know, there is [2:29] a negative association between social media use, on the one hand, and the psychological [2:34] healthness of young people. [2:37] Those sentiments align with the stance of Germany's governing party, the Christian Democrats. [2:42] Chancellor Friedrich Merz led the calls for a social media ban for the under-14s, who, [2:48] on average, spend five and a half hours online each day. [2:52] Do we want to allow our society to be disintegrated? [2:59] Internally, and in this way our youth, our children are endangered? [3:03] We have to deal with this question, because it is the enemies of our freedom, the enemies [3:07] of our democracy, the enemies of an open and free liberal society who are undertaking this. [3:13] But education professor Nina Kolek doubts that a ban will solve the problem. [3:20] If we ban it, we even make it more attractive. [3:23] And probably they will, when they are 16, they will even show more addictive behavior [3:29] when they use it. [3:30] If we want to solve the problem, we have to ban the algorithms which are so harmful, [3:37] and we have to introduce digital literacy. [3:41] So just how effective are social media bans? [3:44] Australia was the first country to enforce an age limit, and its latest data suggests [3:49] that social media companies have been forced to close down 4.7 million accounts belonging [3:55] to teenagers. [3:56] Nevertheless, it's estimated that 20 percent of Australian adults are still using social media. [4:00] Adolescents still manage to access forbidden sites like TikTok and Snapchat. [4:07] Big tech companies oppose governmental bans on social media for teenagers. [4:12] They argue that such restrictions are difficult to implement and risk pushing adolescents [4:17] towards less regulated, more dangerous content. [4:19] Smartphones, they distract us. [4:24] Smartphones have apps that are very addictive. [4:26] And so smartphones poison our individual life. [4:29] And we don't have the tools. [4:29] We don't have the tools. [4:29] We don't have the tools. [4:29] We don't have the tools. [4:30] And furthermore, smartphones poison our society. [4:33] Anti-social media activist Benno Flügel claims that his campaign against the big tech behemoths is gaining traction in Germany. [4:41] I'm aware that I'm in a small minority, but I think smartphones will have a similar career like smoking. [4:47] As years went by, there was more evidence that smoking is actually very harmful. [4:51] I think we see the same development with social media right now. [4:54] You see the rise in depression, you see the rise in anxiety. [4:58] Reading skills of school children are deteriorating. [5:02] And I think the more evidence we get over the years, the more people will see that our position is actually right. [5:09] Okay, so my pros are social media is harming children and teenagers. [5:14] Teens using social media three hours per day have higher risk of anxiety and depression. [5:23] Dollar Shake. [5:24] Dollar Shake. [5:24] Dollar Shake. [5:24] Dollar Shake. [5:24] Dollar Shake. [5:24] Dollar Shake. [5:24] Dollar Shake. [5:24] Dollar Shake. [5:24] Dollar Shake. [5:24] Dollar Shake. [5:24] Dollar Shake. [5:24] Dollar Shake. [5:54] Dollar Shake. [5:54] bulimic actually. And where do the students stand? Leading the opposition is Elias who [6:01] admits to watching TikTok for two to three hours a day. I'm against getting such a media ban [6:10] because it's something to do in your free time and because you also get information that you [6:14] don't get at school. And no, I don't think it's harmful to me because I'm still getting good [6:19] grades and that's why I wouldn't be able to say anything about it. If something is like banned or [6:24] you can't use it, like it's forbidden, then it's like more interesting. Like I don't know how to [6:31] say it, but it's like something is banned and then I want it even more. I think that it would [6:36] be good to ban it, to ban social media as well. But I feel like it is definitely up to the parents [6:44] and not the government to enforce this ban. Germany's coalition government has yet to draft [6:50] the relevant legislation. In the meantime, education experts say it's [6:55] important to ban the ban on social media. [6:55] It's imperative that schools teach students how to become more resilient to social media pressure. [7:01] For the PBS NewsHour, I'm Malcolm Brabant in Berlin.