MPs in Cayman vote to look at curbing social media access for under-16s

Cayman could follow Australia in banning social media for children under 16 following cross-party support on the issue in Parliament.

A Private Member’s Motion brought by Pearlina McGaw-Lumsden, MP for George Town West said the issue was a child protection and public health measure, and that operators should be forced to put into place adequate age verification and compliance measures.

Countries such as Norway, the UK, Denmark, France and Germany as well as some US states are also considering limited access to social media sites such as Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat to young people as concerns increase about the impact of unrestricted access on mental health.

Starting off the debate, McGaw-Lumsden said, “The mental health, safety and the development of our children must take precedence over the commercial interests and profit models of global technology corporations.

“These platforms are not passive tools. They are highly engineered digital environments designed to maximise attention, emotional response and time spent on the platform. Their algorithms are built to reward outrage, controversy, sexualised imagery and social comparison, factors that are particularly harmful to developing minds.”

She said that children and young adolescents are more vulnerable to peer pressure, reward-seeking behaviour and social validation, “which are directly exploited by the design of modern social media platforms”.

While children around the world are affected, she said that Caribbean nations face unique vulnerabilities.

“Our societies are small, closely connected and highly digitally connected as well,” she said. “Harmful content, cyber bullying and reputational damage spread rapidly and are difficult to contain.”

Premier André Ebanks said the government supported the “brilliant motion”, calling it well researched and “compellingly delivered”. He added that the challenge was trying to stay ahead of technology and keep up with innovation, while “at the same time, how do you then implement and enact appropriate safeguards so you don’t dissuade the technology, but you try as much as you can to mitigate harm?”

He said that it was also incumbent upon government to find some things for young people to physically do, such as sports and hobbies, to draw children away from their phones.

The Motion was backed by Deputy Premier Gary Rutty, who said that parents needed to play their part. 

“It’s about time that parents become accountable for their children and help raise them and stop giving them this access that is really destroying a lot of the fabric that we have in our homes today, because it’s also an excuse for the kids to spend time away from their family,” he said. “There’s no interaction. You go to dinner – they’re on their phones. They’re ordering on their phones. But then after that, they continue to be on their phones. Only God knows what they see.”

Seconding the motion, Roy Tatum, MP for Red Bay, said that social media was not the only cause of added anxiety and the modern pressures that young people have to deal with, “but increasingly it is being recognised as being a powerful accelerant of these anxieties and mental health challenges. It helps to amplify comparison of ‘me’ with ‘you’. It amplifies humiliation. It amplifies exclusion. It too readily allows cyberbullying.

“And in a small community, a small country like ours, online harm spreads quickly and possibly permanently. A mistake at 14 can follow a child forever into adulthood.”

West Bay West MP Julie Hunter told the Parliament of instances where children have been told to kill themselves just while playing seemingly harmless games online.

“I remember when bedrooms were places for board games, story time, playtime,” she said. “Now it has become a place of digital harm and digital hurt … And bullying no longer ends at the school gate. It follows children into their beds well into the evening.”

She added, “Folks, it’s time for us to end the wild west of online activity,” and said, “Above all, we must act. For while we deliberate on the details, our children remain at risk. Together, all of us in this house, we can build an environment where children’s well-being online and offline truly comes first.”

MPs voted unanimously to support the motion, which will now be considered by government for possible future legislation. (Cayman Compass)

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