Health Community Urged to Lobby for Regulation of Social Media Access Among Youth

Minister of Health and Wellness, Dr. the Hon. Christopher Tufton, has called on health professionals to add their voices to the push for regulation of social media use among children 16 years and under as a mental health imperative.

“I believe that the time has come for health to be part of that lobby, to say, ‘if you’re 16 years or younger, we should regulate, moderate or even totally avoid social media exposure to our young people’,” he said.

Dr. Tufton was addressing the opening ceremony of the Ministry’s 16th National Health Research Conference at The Jamaica Pegasus hotel in New Kingston on Wednesday (February 4), where he highlighted the need for research focused on the impact of social media on youth mental health and depression.

He contended that unlimited and unsupervised use of social media is impacting the mental wellness of children.

“As an adult, I am appalled by some of the things I see on social media, some of the opinions that have been expressed, some of the vitriol and the evil that is manifested, not just in faraway lands, [but] right here in Jamaica. People attack each other, attack character, make up stories, set new standards of behaviour that, to my mind, to an open and fertile learning brain in the form of a young person, is deforming them for life and creating a much worse society for the future generation than for us as adults,” he said.

“We are creating a society of young people who will eventually become adults, who, through overexposure and negative reinforced exposure, with social media being the core of that, are either going to be exceptionally challenged by mental health-related issues or… behaviour and choices that will lead to a much more challenging period beyond the age of consent, when they, in fact, can make decisions,” he added.

Dr. Tufton noted that while social media has become a vital forum of free speech “this must come with levels of responsible behaviour. It affects people’s attitudes towards each other; it affects the choices we make, what we consume. It affects our mental health”.

He encouraged the health professionals attending the research conference to discuss the issue during the event’s three-day staging.