The issue of a ban on social media for minors often goes hand in hand with that of a ban on mobile phones in schools, said Minder.
Keystone-SDA
Young people need to be better protected in their use of social media, said Thomas Minder, president of the Association of School Principals in German-speaking Switzerland.
+Get the most important news from Switzerland in your inbox
“Social media should be banned for minors,” Minder said in an interview published in Tamedia newspapers on Tuesday. Adults are already not in a position to use these applications sensibly, he said: “Do we really want algorithms to be developed to have a hold on our children’s immature brains?”
The president of the school principals association points out that the issue of a ban on social media for minors often goes hand in hand with that of a ban on mobile phones in schools. Banning mobile phones from school playgrounds is “political advertising by education ministers,” he added.
More
More
Why TikTok’s influence worries Europe – and why Switzerland is not immune
Comparing smartphone addiction to that of alcohol or tobacco, “particularly where social media are concerned”, he believes that the question should instead be how to protect young people in their use of smartphones.
Favourable public opinion
A study published in May revealed that 80% of Swiss people are in favour of a ban on social media for under-16s. Support for a ban on mobile phones in schools is almost as high.
In March, the Swiss senate approved a postulate calling for a study into whether banning access to platforms such as TikTok or Instagram for under-16s could have an effect on youth protection.
In Australia, which is a pioneer in restricting social media for minors, teenagers can only use social networks such as X, TikTok, Facebook and Instagram from the age of 16.
What is your opinion? Join the debate:
Translated from French with DeepL/gw
We select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools to translate them into English. A journalist then reviews the translation for clarity and accuracy before publication.
Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles. The news stories we select have been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team from news agencies such as Bloomberg or Keystone.
If you have any questions about how we work, write to us at english@swissinfo.ch.
