The timing couldn’t have been more favourable.
I was in the midst of meeting the newsroom deadlines for a number of stories when my son Lenin suddenly had a severe case of palpitations. His breathing almost stopped.
At first we all didn’t know what to think. He was a tall, healthy boy in his mid-teens, a brilliant young man who did well in school (he later graduated with honors from college where he majored in animation). He may not have been as athletic as most other boys his age, but his body was anything but susceptible to disease. In fact, it was quite rare for him to catch a cold or flu during the cold months, which was more than I can say for the rest of our family, including myself.
At a nearby clinic, the doctor asked some familiar questions, except for one: “How long has he been using the computer?”
I was floored. My son was a serious gamer and used our PC at home for more hours than I could ever ask him to stop. Doctor’s Advice: Turn off the computer screen for several weeks and limit its use to an excruciating (well, excruciating for my son) an hour a day.
Shortly after we got home, my son admitted that he had been playing all day and got emotionally entangled in the Need for Speed game. Today, my son is still a serious gamer and writes game manuals for foreign game content providers. The palpitations never returned, all because we kept a close eye on his daily activities.
During the conversation with doctors, I was informed about a spike in heart palpitations and strokes in children due to prolonged computer use. Through years of study and reading on the subject, I’ve also learned that the different levels of light coming from cell phones, computer screens, and room lighting affect vision and can cause migraines, flashing lights in memes and video attacks, and playing war games.
“Imagine your son going through war shock somewhere between the ages of 12 and 15,” the doctor said. “Games these days seem so real that it’s almost impossible to tell virtual reality from the real thing.” If a 12-year-old playing Call of Duty (enough to make him a war veteran) doesn’t scare you, then I don’t know what will.
This does not include trauma from social media bullying and high levels of fear when stalked by strangers. Also trolling activity is a constant source of tension, leaving the child completely overwhelmed.
Children who are highly impressed and irritable face dangerous prospects when confronted with online pornography or violence, giving many the wrong impression that these are okay and part of acceptable behavior.
I’m not saying that social media, the Internet, or computer games don’t have redemptive value. For example, I am a heavy user of social media, given the profession that I do. I sometimes research using the ‘dark web’ or a really sleazy website, if only to understand how algorithms work and what drives some websites. It is my journalism training that makes the difference.
However, children are faced with the dangers of running with information without thinking about its consequences. This is where the rubber meets the dirt road: how to enable parents to train and guide their children through social media and internet platforms without compromising the child’s skills to mature with this tool for his or her own sake.
However, legislative restrictions can be troubling. At the beginning of this month, Laguna Rep. Dan Fernandez resubmitted the Social Media Regulation and Protection Act of 2019 (House Bill No. 543), a bill that “puts children’s well-being at the top priority.”
At the top of the legislative agenda is protecting children from all the inherent dangers found on social media and the world wide web. At first glance, imposing age restrictions on users – 13 and under – seems logical and necessary. Restriction of use – 13 to 17 year olds for just 30 minutes – may also seem appropriate when weighed against the threats children face online, including Tourette’s syndrome, muscular dysmorphism, not to mention sexual exploitation.
New York Times columnist Yuval Levin said social media is “not a place for kids. If Instagram and TikTok were physical spaces near you, you’d probably never even let your teen go to them alone. Parents should have the same say over their children’s presence in these virtual spaces.”
However, I think the purpose of the legislation – our children – is largely out of balance. Imposing restrictions will only drive children ‘underground’, leaving their parents in the dark about their online activities. If you happen to have children, you know as well as I do that they will find ways to do this, with the number of parents who could not spare time, energy and attention for their children.
In addition, legislation on the internet can open a Pandora’s box of restrictions and controls that may in the future also include freedom of speech and expression, a law that I believe should always be fought. It’s the last bastion of free speech, and in a world itching to curb the right to speak the truth in power, we have more reasons to stop censorship than blindly encourage it.
Also, let’s not kid ourselves any more than necessary: With the way legislation only benefits the rich and powerful, not the common Filipino, this bill will just be an annoying, unwelcome addition to the laws about, let’s say, bribery and corruption, which the most powerful people choose to ignore openly and without regret. Maybe setting a good example for our kids should come first before we expect any of them to follow the damn rules.
What I do propose is this: a call for parents to participate in a nationwide training on both the pros and cons of the internet and social media, and how to deal with children’s urges to use these tools. Science has a lot of things to say about these things. The government can start funding online seminars.
Knowing what’s right and wrong starts at home. The internet is a resource and quite a necessary resource when children reach a certain age. The world wide web will be part of that world. Restricting them doesn’t bode well for any skill needed to live in that future, the same skill needed so they can navigate through it responsibly and with utmost care.
It all starts when children learn principles and values that they can carry with them online. Limit children as much as you want, but if their education at home is far from pleasant and lacks consistency, worse, forgoing the principles necessary to be good citizens, then you will only unleash generations of young people who cannot see between their right hand from left.
Our children’s future is radically tied to social media and the internet. No running away from that fact. It is home training, not a legal restriction, which will prove wiser in the long run. – philstarlife
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