00:00If I could persuade Kent to copy anything from the Aussies, it would probably be the
00:04constant sunshine and swapping our pigeons for kangaroos. But today, 61 Labour MPs backed
00:10calls to copy something else, a social media ban on under-16s. In a letter to the PM, the
00:16MPs urged Shakir Starmer to help protect young people from unregulated and addictive social
00:21media platforms.
00:23Pluses and minuses. I mean, I think the bad things are all really obvious that everyone
00:27says all the time that kids aren't out playing and doing those kind of things that we used
00:31to do. You know, I can no more imagine being on the phone when I was eight years old than,
00:35you know, I just can't imagine that because we were just out playing all the time.
00:39I don't think that these people should have, and kids should have pressure what they are
00:45actually getting at from social media. It's quite horrible.
00:48If it got used for something like useful things like getting engaged in some new activities
00:53and learning the new things, it will be useful for them.
00:55If we did have children, I'd want them to have a phone so that I knew exactly where they
00:58were and they can get in touch with us if they need her. So it's just got to, I think
01:03it depends as a parent, you just got to monitor it as a parent. And it's up to the parents
01:06to do that. And I think probably a lot of the reason there's lots of controversy about
01:10it is because parents aren't really stepping up and doing that, or a lot of parents are
01:13stepping up and doing that.
01:14Ashford's MP Sojan Joseph is the only listed Kent MP to join the call.
01:19I was working in the mental health services until the day I got elected. And in the last 10,
01:2415 years, the number of depression, anxiety, suicidal ideation among young people has
01:31increased significantly. I have specifically a couple of schools in my constituency, like
01:37John Wally School, who has been put some banning smartphone while children are at school, has
01:47also expressed that significant improvement in children's ability to socialise while they're
01:54in the school. I mean, this is not an end, this is the beginning of the conversation. So hopefully
02:00more of our colleagues, you know, cross-party will come and support this.
02:06Several children's charities and online safety organisations have called for another look at
02:11regulations, saying that well-intentioned blanket bans on social media would cause children to
02:17migrate to other areas online, alongside potential threats. The Prime Minister has not yet ruled out
02:23the ban, with the House of Lords likely to vote on a cross-party amendment soon. Whether you agree
02:29children would be better off without their socials, or think these skills are now fundamental to
02:34modern life, eyes will be on our warmer counterpart for the success of the scheme. Chloe Brewster for KMTV.
