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At a time when there is a debate going on around the world about the advantages and disadvantages of Artificial Intelligence, a law introduced in the Parliament of Australia to ban social media is being discussed. According to the law, children below 16 years of age will not be able to use social media. In such a situation, the first question that arises is whether social media is so dangerous that its use can have a very bad effect on the minds of children or, in other words, future citizens? An even broader question is whether social media is really social or not? The answer is not very difficult. Media that runs with the help of Internet i.e. web media i.e. digital media is called social media. So can other mediums of communication like newspapers, magazines, TV, radio be called non-social media? No. Broadly speaking, all types of communication mediums are social media. Therefore, what we call social media, it would be more appropriate to call it web or digital media. The second big argument is that instead of uniting the society, various platforms related to digital media have led to self-centredness. People walking on the streets can be seen lost in their mobile phones. Most of the people traveling in metro and buses are seen busy on their mobile phones. Even at home, people do not talk to each other, but remain engrossed in their mobile phones. There are also reports that people who are busy listening to something through mobile phones and headphones get cut and die while crossing the railway tracks. They do not even notice what is happening around them. Digital media is becoming a deadly addiction for many people. Children who use it too much do not even have natural mental development. In such times, there is a lot of debate about the Australian government’s law to ban the use of digital media. Under the law, if children under 16 years of age are found using digital platforms, then a huge fine of around $30 million will be imposed on the company running the digital platform. This means that the parents of such children will not have any accountability. Also, now that education has started happening online and healthy entertainment is also done through digital platforms, the people of Australia are expecting some relaxation on the use of such digital platforms. However, Australia is not the first country to ban digital platforms. Even before this, many countries have taken such initiatives. In Spain too, there is a ban on the use of digital media by children under 16 years of age. Even in Florida, America, children under 14 years of age cannot open digital media accounts. It is worth noting that since 2015 till now, 62 countries have imposed some restrictions on digital media. Strictness on the use of internet or digital media has been increased in 27 out of 48 countries in Asia. This has been said in the reports of Internet monitoring agency Surfshark and Netblocks. The report examines internet restrictions in 185 countries of the world from 2015 to November 30, 2020. The report shows that in the last five years, 62 countries have taken strict action on internet and social media. China, North Korea, Iran and Qatar have shown the most strictness. There is a complete ban on foreign digital media platforms in China. Since 2015, one in every three countries has banned digital media. In the year 2019, India remained at the top in the world by banning the Internet 121 times. This ban is imposed to prevent disharmony from spreading in the society. Among the countries that banned the internet, 14 countries including Chad, Pakistan, Egypt, Iran banned the internet to prevent the social situation from worsening. Tags: Australia news, social media FIRST PUBLISHED: November 22, 2024, 15:39 IST Source link