Social Media is the New Smoking – It’s Time to Act
- davidjrichards6
- Dec 13, 2024
- 4 min read
In 2007, Steve Jobs launched the iPhone, Facebook (now Meta) went global, and we all applauded the future arriving in our hands. Except we didn’t see what was lurking inside that little glowing screen. That year, a quiet revolution began – children swapped playgrounds for bedrooms, kickabouts for scrolls, and real friendships for likes and follows. Childhood stopped being play-based and became screen-based, and we are now paying the price.
Fast forward to today, and a record 789,000 young people aged 16-24 in the UK are not in work, education, or training. That staggering figure, reported by the House of Commons Library, is “thought in part to mental health issues.” Meanwhile, the Office for National Statistics reveals a sharp decline in the well-being of young people, with nearly 1 in 5 reporting low life satisfaction. Social media isn’t the only cause – but it’s impossible to deny it’s a significant one.
The tragedy is that this all feels painfully familiar. We’ve seen this movie before – just swap “social media” for “smoking.”
Social Media: The New Big Tobacco
In the early 20th century, smoking was glamorised and universal. Tobacco companies assured us it was harmless – in fact, they hired doctors to say it was good for you. Their ads plastered smiling faces and cool rebels lighting up, and when evidence of harm began to surface, they did everything in their power to delay regulation.
Big Tobacco used a playbook designed to:
1. Deny the Harm: They questioned the science and dismissed health studies as “inconclusive.”
2. Blame the User: If people got sick, it was their fault for smoking too much – not the industry’s for selling an addictive product.
3. Target the Vulnerable: Tobacco companies went after young people, ensuring their customer pipeline never dried up. They made smoking glamorous, rebellious, and aspirational.
Does any of that sound familiar?
Social media companies are using the exact same tactics:
1. Deny the Harm: Despite growing evidence that social media damages young mental health, Big Tech hides behind claims of “insufficient evidence” or dismisses it as a societal issue.
2. Blame the User: They tell parents to “monitor screen time” and encourage “healthy use,” as if addiction to endless scrolling is just bad parenting.
3. Target the Vulnerable: Platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and Snapchat deliberately target children and teenagers. They use dopamine-triggering algorithms, addictive notifications, and curated content to keep kids hooked.
Both industries built their success on dependency, profits rising as their products harmed users. Tobacco companies sold cigarettes; social media companies sell attention.
Before Smartphones, Childhood Was Different
Before the iPhone and social media explosion, children had what we now nostalgically call a “play-based childhood”. They played outside, learned from real-world experiences, and formed face-to-face relationships.
Yes, the internet existed. Yes, kids could access harmful content on home computers. But it wasn’t portable, and it didn’t dominate their lives. The smartphone changed everything. Now the world follows them everywhere – into the playground, the bedroom, and their heads. Childhood has been swallowed whole by screens.
What Did We Do About Smoking?
When smoking was proven harmful, the government didn’t shrug its shoulders and leave it to personal responsibility. They acted:
• They banned sales to children, and made shopkeepers responsible for checking IDs.
• They banned advertising and forced tobacco companies to pay for health warnings.
It worked. Smoking rates plummeted, and millions of lives were saved.
So why can’t we do the same with social media? It’s not that we can’t – it’s that Big Tech, like Big Tobacco before them, has too much to lose. They’ll argue it’s “impossible to enforce” or that parents need to “just monitor their kids better.” But we managed it with cigarettes, and we can manage it now.
What Needs to Happen
We need a legal age restriction for social media. Under-16s should not have unfettered access to TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat, or YouTube. It should be the legal responsibility of platform providers and mobile phone companies to enforce this, with heavy fines for breaches.
Age verification technology already exists – they just don’t want to use it.
Australia is Leading the Way
Australia has seen the damage and is acting. Their government is introducing laws to regulate social media platforms, treating the issue as a public health crisis【Australia Social Media Regulations】.
Meanwhile, in the UK, we’re stuck debating whether social media is really all that bad, just as we did with smoking decades ago. A cabinet minister recently compared the problem to the seat belt law. What a ridiculous comparison. Seat belts prevent harm. Social media causes it.
Time to Act
I wrote over ten years ago that legislation to regulate social media was inevitable. A decade later, we’re still waiting. Meanwhile, childhood slips further away, and a generation of young people is left struggling with their mental health, disconnected from the real world and each other.
The government acted against Big Tobacco. It’s time they acted against Big Tech.
We know what needs to be done:
1. Ban under-16s from accessing addictive platforms.
2. Make platforms and phone companies legally responsible for enforcement.
3. Fine them heavily for failure to comply.
Protecting our children isn’t controversial. It’s common sense.
Enough is enough. We stood up to Big Tobacco, and we saved lives. It’s time we stood up to Big Tech and saved childhood.
Sources and Links for Further Reading:
Comments