Time to rein in youth social media use

Smartphones and social media have become inseparable from young people's daily lives, serving as primary gateways to learning, entertainment and social interaction. But their benefits come with growing costs: addiction, anxiety, declining academic performance, cyberbullying and exposure to harmful content. Korea can no longer afford to ignore these risks. It is time to begin a serious discussion about introducing reasonable safeguards for minors' use of social media.

Recent developments in the education sector underscore the growing urgency of the issue. Newly elected superintendents across the country have embraced "smartphone-free schools" as a key policy. Gyeonggi Province plans to restrict mobile phone use not only during classes but also throughout breaks and lunchtime, while Gangwon and North Jeolla provinces are rolling out smartphone-free school initiatives and digital detox programs.

These are more than educational experiments. Schools have increasingly reported that excessive smartphone use disrupts learning, fuels conflicts among students and facilitates cyberbullying. Although a law restricting the use of smart devices during class took effect last year, inconsistent enforcement across schools has undermined its effectiveness.

The problem extends well beyond school grounds. For many young people, smartphones are now little more than gateways to social media. Recommendation algorithms feed users an endless stream of increasingly engaging — and often more provocative — content to maximize screen time. Short-form videos, autoplay and constant notifications erode attention spans and encourage compulsive use. For adolescents, whose impulse control is still developing, such platforms are effectively designed to foster excessive engagement.

The statistics underscore the urgency. Government data show that 43 percent of Koreans aged 10 to 19 and 26 percent of children ages 3 to 9 were classified last year as being at risk of smartphone overdependence. When nearly one in two teenagers falls into a risk group, the problem can no longer be dismissed as a matter of individual self-control.

Other countries have already begun to act. Australia became the first nation to ban children under 16 from holding social media accounts, while the United Kingdom is moving toward similar restrictions. France, Spain, Greece and Norway are also weighing stricter age verification, tighter limits on minors' access and curbs on recommendation algorithms designed to maximize user engagement.

To be sure, regulation is no silver bullet. Young users may circumvent age restrictions, migrate to other platforms or simply spend more time on online games. There are also legitimate concerns about freedom of expression and access to information. Digital addiction cannot be solved by regulation alone.

But doing nothing is hardly the better alternative.

Society already accepts the need for safeguards to protect minors. Seatbelts are mandatory. Alcohol and tobacco are subject to age limits. Gambling is strictly regulated. These measures are not intended to restrict individual freedom but to protect those who are not yet fully capable of protecting themselves. Social media should be no exception.

The debate should move beyond the false choice between an outright ban and a hands-off approach. Practical alternatives already exist: setting a minimum age for social media accounts, requiring parental consent for younger users, restricting nighttime access, curbing engagement-driven recommendation algorithms, disabling infinite scrolling and autoplay for minors, and making the strongest privacy and safety settings the default for youth accounts.

Education must also be part of the solution. Schools should strengthen digital literacy and media education to help students develop healthy online habits and navigate the digital world responsibly.

Above all, platforms themselves must shoulder greater responsibility. For years, society has urged young people to spend less time on their phones while paying too little attention to business models built to maximize user engagement. As long as profits depend on keeping users online for as long as possible, voluntary self-regulation will never be enough.

Several bills proposing age restrictions, time limits and algorithmic safeguards for youth social media use remain pending in the National Assembly, but progress has been slow. Lawmakers can no longer afford to treat this as a secondary issue. The mental health, education and long-term well-being of the next generation are simply too important to ignore.

Efforts to create smartphone-free schools are a meaningful first step. But restricting smartphone use within school walls alone will not solve a problem that largely unfolds outside them, where social media occupies much of young people's daily lives.

Protecting children and fostering digital innovation are not mutually exclusive goals. What Korea needs is not an indiscriminate ban but a balanced regulatory framework that enables young people to benefit from technology while minimizing its harms.

Korea can no longer afford to delay this debate. Reasonable safeguards for minors on social media are not an assault on freedom but a necessary investment in the health, well-being and future of the next generation.

Kang Seung-woo is the business desk editor at The Korea Times.