Andhra Pradesh CM Chandrababu Naidu has made his decision and announced the same in the Assembly on Friday. Andhra Pradesh will now officially ban social media access to all children below the age of 13. The government is considering a ban for children between 13 and 16 too.
Incidentally, in neighbouring Karnataka, CM Siddaramaiah banned social media for children till the age of 16.
In AP, the ban will be applicable within 90 days. With raising concerns over excessive use of social media and children being exposed to violent and adult content by social media chat bots, there was immense pressure on governments to make it a mandatory ban.
Australia was the first country in the world to ban social media for children till the age of 16. France, Malaysia and several European nations are considering a similar ban.
Coming back to Andhra Pradesh, psychologists, social experts, teachers and parents have been demanding a ban due to children’s addiction to various social media platforms. In fact, studies have shown that certain basic skills are affected by excessive use of social media by children. Many students are dependent on social media to complete their class projects. This is bound to impact their natural talent in future.
Keeping all these aspects in mind, Chandrababu Naidu has taken the historic decision to ban social media for children till the age of 13.
It could be sheer coincidence that HR Minister spoke about his 11-yr-old son not using mobile only yesterday in Assembly. Lokesh had been advocating a social media ban for children for some time now.
Many netizens and Andhra Pradesh citizens are expressing their happiness over Chandrababu’s decision.
