人们在许多事情上分歧很大，但在一件事上更一致：因为社交媒体伤害儿童与青少年，就应禁止他们使用。澳大利亚在12月禁止未满16岁在包括Facebook、Instagram与TikTok在内的平台开设账户；约一打国家（包括英国与西班牙）以及许多美国州的立法者也在考虑类似措施，英国有超过70%支持把未满16岁赶下这些网站，美国也有三分之二支持。
尽管一些证据显示社交媒体至少会伤害部分孩子，但“对整体青少年心理健康造成巨大损害”的证据仍有限，因此把禁令当作预防措施可能适得其反。执行很难且定义也棘手：澳大利亚青少年已用“把脸皱起来显得更老”等办法绕过限制，而WhatsApp等消息应用和多人在线游戏未被纳入，这意味着网络霸凌等问题仍会在其他渠道持续。
更高年龄门槛也可能只是把问题推迟到16岁并制造虚假安全感，同时剥夺社交媒体对孤立青少年的益处，并把更多屏幕时间转移到游戏机与流媒体上。替代路径是加强监管而非提高年龄：迫使平台提供更多使用数据、改掉无尽滚动与自动播放等“上瘾”设计、加强内容审核并更严格核验年龄；与此同时，美国正准备一系列酝酿多年的重大审判，欧盟已就TikTok部分设计“具有成瘾性”作出初步裁定并威胁罚款，而这些平台推出带额外防护的“青少年账户”也表明方向正在变化。
People disagree on much, but they converge on one idea: because social media harm children and teenagers, they should be banned from using them. In December Australia barred under-16s from holding accounts on platforms including Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok; around a dozen countries (including Britain and Spain) and many US state lawmakers are considering similar moves, with over 70% of Britons and two-thirds of Americans backing under-16 bans.
Yet the case for mass harm is not settled: evidence is growing that social media are bad for at least some children, but evidence for large population-wide mental-health damage is limited, so precautionary bans can backfire. Enforcement and definitions are hard: Australian teens are already dodging checks (for example by scrunching faces to look older), while exemptions for messaging apps like WhatsApp and for multiplayer games leave cyberbullying and other risks in place and may push kids toward obscure, riskier sites.
Higher age limits may also delay problems until 16 and create a false sense of security while stripping benefits from isolated teens and shifting screen time toward consoles and streaming. A tighter alternative is regulation rather than age bans: require more usage data, curb “addictive” features like endless scroll and auto-play, strengthen moderation and age verification, and build on pressure already rising as the US readies years-in-the-making blockbuster trials, the EU issues a preliminary finding that parts of TikTok’s design are “addictive” and threatens fines, and big apps roll out safeguarded “teen” accounts.
Source: Don’t ban teenagers from social media
Subtitle: Restrictions would do more harm than good
Dateline: 2月 12, 2026 06:37 上午