North West University Speech Language Therapist, Linique Hanekom, says social media restrictions are needed to protect children from harmful content and screen time limitations could also be considered.
She says she agrees with the South African government that banning social media for children under the age of 16 is not the answer.
Communications Minister, Solly Malatsi, is reported to have said earlier last month that the government did not have plans to introduce such a ban.
Australia was the first country in the world to introduce the ban.
Hanekom says alternative methods might work better.
“Children have only a limited amount of time in a day. So, if an hour, let’s say, has been (spent on) scrolling on social media, that is an hour that they aren’t necessarily spending talking to a parent or playing outside or engaging in imaginative play or reading a book or even interacting with another child. And we know that development actually happens in those experiences,” says Hanekom.
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