Another country has joined the battle against social media addiction, with Greece announcing restrictions for users under the age of 15.
It’s no secret that social media can encourage addictive behavior, particularly in young users. The problem has been consistent over the years, but social media platforms haven’t been able to find a way to curb the impact.
Now, countries are taking matters into their own hands by banning or restricting services like Facebook and Instagram for young users, and Greece is getting on board.
Greece Announces Social Media Restrictions for Young Users
The Greek government has announced that it will soon implement age-based restrictions on social media for users under the age of 15. The goal behind these new regulations is to limit the notable overexposure of social media among young users, which has been shown to have some seriously negative effects.
“It’s not only that children remain glued on social media. They are isolated and this carries a double risk: the risk of depression and the risk of digital isolation, where they think that they have a friend and create a fake, digital world without living on the outside world. There were children who had refused to go to school.” – Sofia Zacharaki, Minister of Social Cohesion and Family Affairs to Greek SKAI TV
The system will be broad, implementing everything from age checks and algorithm changes to awareness campaigns and time management tools for parents.
Other Countries Instituting Social Media Regulations for Youth
Greece isn’t the only country attempting to curb the overconsumption of social media in youth. In fact, there are a number of countries implementing age restrictions on social media platforms, with strategies ranging from full-on bans to opt-in methods with parental consent.
Here’s a list of the countries around the world that are currently trying to limit social media usage for young users:
- United States
- Australia
- United Kingdom
- Norway
- France
- Germany
- Italy
- South Korea
- Greece
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Whether or not these restrictions and regulations will have any impact in any of these countries remains to be seen, as these efforts are quite new, with most campaigns launching early this year.
Is Social Media Addictive?
Social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram have been around for more than a decade at this point, and one thing has been glaringly obvious since their inception: These platforms are pretty addictive.
From medical experts noting the similar brain activity to using drugs to the aggressive overuse by many users, there have been many studies stating that social media has addictive tendencies.
Worse, many of these platforms seem to be employing these strategies on purpose, with Meta even being sued for designing its platforms to encourage addictive behavior in hopes of improving user numbers.
