The global rush to keep children off social media is not coming from nowhere. Britain has announced plans to block under-16s from major platforms like TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat, YouTube, Facebook, and X. Canada has introduced legislation aimed at social media services, chatbots, and other online services, including an under-16 account restriction. Australia already has its version in place, with platforms facing penalties if they fail to take reasonable steps to keep under-16s from holding accounts. (gov.uk) (canada.ca) (infrastructure.gov.au)
The concern is real. Anxiety is real. Addiction is real. Sexualized content, bullying, algorithmic manipulation, sleep loss, constant comparison, and the low-grade misery machine in a teenager’s pocket are not neutral forces. Parents know something is wrong, even if they cannot always explain the whole technical architecture of the wrongness without wanting to throw the router into a lake.
The question is not whether social media is forming children.
It is.
The question is who is responsible for that formation, what government may rightly do to protect minors, and whether these bans can actually work outside a press conference.
Scripture gives parents the first duty of formation. In Deuteronomy 6, Moses tells God’s people to love the Lord wholeheartedly and to teach His commands diligently to their children in the ordinary rhythms of life. Proverbs gives the same wisdom-shaped picture: parents are to direct children toward wisdom, not toss them into folly and hope the Wi-Fi password does the discipling.
That does not mean civil government has no role. Romans 13 teaches that governing authorities have a real, God-given responsibility to restrain evil and preserve order. We should be careful here. Romans 13 does not settle the exact age limit for Instagram. But it does tell us government is not automatically wicked when it tries to protect the vulnerable.
Children are not tiny adults. A society that forgets that is already halfway down the stairs.
So Christians should reject the lazy false choice. Big Tech and libertarian-ish voices warn that restrictions are tyranny. Sometimes they have a point about privacy and government overreach. But let’s not pretend their concern is pure civic virtue when their business model profits from children’s attention.
On the other side, politicians love the phrase “protecting kids” because it looks wonderful on a podium. But a serious law has to answer serious questions. How will age verification work? Who holds the identity data? Can kids bypass the ban with VPNs, borrowed devices, fake ages, or less regulated platforms? The Hollywood Reporter notes that Australia is already facing concerns about evasion through VPNs, borrowed devices, and platforms that do not bother with age checks.
That matters. A ban that exists mostly on paper is not protection. It is a press release wearing a bike helmet.
Christian wisdom should be both protective and sober. We can support real efforts to protect children from predatory design, addictive features, adult content, bullying, grooming, and algorithmic manipulation. We should also demand honest enforcement details and resist surveillance-heavy fixes that require everyone to hand over identity documents just to read the internet.
The better question is not simply, “Ban or no ban?” The better question is, “What actually protects children while honoring the proper roles of parents, government, and civil society?”
Parents are primary stewards. Government is a limited authority. Platforms are morally responsible for the products they design. Churches should help form families with courage and wisdom. And adults should stop acting shocked when children become what the adults around them trained them to become.
Law may help. It will not replace parenting. It will not replace household rules, church formation, real friendships, outdoor play, family dinners, device limits, adult example, and the hard work of saying no to a child who can produce a constitutional argument for TikTok in under twelve seconds.
Christians should be political here because politics is one way we love our neighbors, including the youngest ones. But we should be political as Christians, not as panic buyers in the regulation aisle.
Support serious protection. Ask hard questions. Refuse tech-company baloney. Refuse government overreach. Stop outsourcing discipleship to Silicon Valley, Parliament, Ottawa, Canberra, or the App Store.
Children are gifts to be formed, not data points to be monetized.
That is morally clear.
How to regulate wisely will require humility. But humility is not silence. It is faithful seriousness with our Bibles open, our eyes open, and our routers properly supervised.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
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