Two senior policing officials have this week condemned social media as more harmful to young people than the fear of crime.
Lincolnshire Police and Crime Commissioner and his deputy issued a joint statement demanding more is done by the Government to protect the young from the dangers of online material.
PCC Marc Jones and deputy Sara Munton called on the Government to ban mobile phones from schools, restrict the use of social media for young people and to investigate new stricter laws to control social media content.
Their condemnation comes just days after the results of a five-month engagement campaign, led by young people themselves , were unveiled in a report.
The document was written by youngsters taking part in a PCC- led project designed to give them a voice in how communities should be policed – which involved hundreds of young people from across Lincolnshire.
In the report young people said they felt more exposed to harm when scrolling their phones then walking the streets.
It concluded: “We don’t think adults understand the true dangers we face online. Parents tend to be more worried about our safety outside, when we actually face more harms sat at home on our phones.”
The group, recruited by the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner as ‘Safer Communities Leaders’, said that parents and adults do not fully understand the risks that exist online.
These include graphic content appearing in social media feeds without being searched for, the rise of AI generated content and the normalisation of misogyny and hate speech in online spaces.
The revelations comes weeks after the BBC reported whistleblowers from social media giants claiming harmful content was being allowed on people’s feeds because outrage fuelled engagement.
Earlier this year MPs rejected a ban on social media for under 16s despite such a step now being proposed in many other countries around the world including Denmark, France, Spain and Indonesia. Australia has already introduced a ban.
The report also concluded that young people need to be made more aware of victim support services, police should help young people understand crime reporting processes and HollieGuard and Strut Safe are better promoted.
In a joint statement PCC Marc Jones and his deputy Sara Munton said: “It is alarming to hear young people saying they are more worried about harm from social media than they are about being a victim of crime on the streets.
“Successive Governments have introduced laws and invested millions in laws to change employment rights, tackle immigration issues and change the law on vaping for instance.
“Yet one of the biggest challenges to our whole society operates unchecked. That cannot be right. While there is no doubt that global social media represents unique challenges in terms of legislation that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try.
“Both parents AND young people recognise this is an issue that needs to be addressed and UK Governments are failing to grasp it.”
