The newly announced under-16s social media ban could make it "more difficult" for essential services to reach young Brummies, a youth club has shared. Sutton Coldfield YMCA's youth branch has detailed fears of what an under-16s social media ban could mean for young people who rely on the YMCA's online services, including young carers.
It comes after Sir Keir Starmer, who resigned yesterday (June 22), announced last week there would be a social media ban for any Brits under the age of 16 across specific social platforms. The ban is earmarked to come into force in spring of next year.
Virtual youth club on Discord
Lauren Lander, the youth service manager at the YMCA, explained how much the organisation relies on social media to reach Birmingham's young people. The YMCA runs a virtual youth club meeting on Discord every Tuesday evening, which is key to connecting with dozens of children. Discord is currently not listed under the social media apps due to be banned; Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, YouTube, Facebook and X are currently the only ones identified, but the exact regulations for the law have not yet been outlined.
Lauren said: "The idea behind the Discord session was to reach some young carers that weren't able to come to us in person. There's a whole load of reasons why they might not be able to come to us – it might be that [they have] a caring role, the transport, the money, whatever it is. Discord is kind of a way around that and a way for us to reach more people who struggle to access us."
Building connections and confidence
When young people join the online sessions, they take part in different games and workshops with those who work at the YMCA. The service manager added that it also aids those, such as young carers, who perhaps can't leave the house, to make friends in an online setting, or to find others in a similar situation to themselves. Aside from connecting young people from their homes, Lauren shared that the Discord sessions can often be a "baby step" to young Brummies coming to the physical site.
As it stands, the under-16s social media ban is still earmarked to come into force in spring of next year, with Lauren sharing how it could make operations with young people "more difficult."
Education over restriction
"We use social media quite a lot in contacting our young people," Lauren said. "[We] keep them up to date with what we've got going on." Lauren went on to outline her opinion on the social media ban, detailing how she believes education is a crucial element to using social media. "I don't know if you're ever going to stop young people from using social media. Personally, I think a better way is to teach them how to use it safely, but it will definitely be more difficult for us to reach more young people that wouldn't have access to us otherwise," she said.
She added: "A lot of young people come to us through schools but like I say, social media is a great way of promoting what we do and reaching more young people."
