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One in every four teens in New Zealand
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is presenting with very severe mental
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health illness. What's interesting about
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the likes of you know social media
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companies is that a lot of them are
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acting in a way like tobacco companies
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have been for a long period of time.
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Right? So what we're looking to do is
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introduce a minimum age for social media
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of 16. There's been a lot of research
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over a long period of time that has
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demonstrated that there is something
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that's happened in our young people from
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when the introduction of the smartphone
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when the camera was introduced also when
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social media really started to take off.
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So, for a long time, we've gone out of
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our way to protect our kids. And, you
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know, we've got a minimum driving age.
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We've got a minimum age for you to
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purchase alcohol, a minimum age for you
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to purchase tobacco products. But
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there's no minimum aid for social media.
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And the reality of it is that it is
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changing the way that the chemistry in
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our children's brain is developing. And
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what children actually need is they need
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the one-on-one engagement. They need to
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be out with a ball on the grounds on a
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weekend and spending 42 hours online,
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which is the average for New Zealand
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children, which is an outofdate
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statistic. 42 hours. Children in New
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Zealand spend 42 hours online per week.
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Per week.