Letters: We should educate teenagers instead of banning them from social media

There was a message for Brooke van Velden in Rod Emmerson's cartoon in the Herald on Sunday.

Letters to the Editor

Social media ban not the solution

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon recently announced a National Party private member’s bill that would require social media companies to verify someone is aged 16 or older. Luxon said social media was not “always a safe place for young people”.

The Government’s proposal for such censorship or a ban of these platforms echoes a familiar historical impulse: when faced with a perceived threat to culture, morality, or social order, authorities often choose censorship over education.

In many ways, this digital restriction is the modern equivalent of book burning — a symbolic, forceful gesture aimed at “protecting” society, especially its younger members, by simply removing access rather than fostering critical understanding.

Historically, book burnings were carried out to suppress dissent, control narratives, and eliminate ideas deemed dangerous. But the problem with ideas — whether in books or on screens — is that they don’t vanish when you burn or ban them. They resurface, often in darker corners, where there is even less guidance and structure.

Today’s children are not scrolling mindlessly out of malice or defiance. They are navigating a digital landscape designed to hijack attention and exploit basic neurochemical responses. Dopamine loops, novelty-seeking, and the compulsive reinforcement of likes and shares are deeply intertwined with the physiology of adolescence, a period already marked by heightened vulnerability to external stimulation and social comparison.

Yet instead of educating young people about why and how their attention is being manipulated, or teaching them about the hormonal and psychological effects of prolonged exposure to these platforms, the proposed solution is to simply remove the tool altogether.

This not only disrespects their intelligence, but also forfeits the opportunity to arm them with the kind of digital literacy, critical thinking and self-awareness that could serve them for life.

The solution isn’t censorship — it’s education, transparency, and a willingness to engage with complexity.

Patrick Evans-McLeod, Hamilton.

Not my tree of choice

On Friday, we arrived home to find a tree being planted on the grass verge outside our house. A liquidambar. The Auckland Botanic Gardens website describes liquidambars as: “Best used in a large lawn or park … not suited for a home garden unless there is plenty of space.”

It is deciduous so in autumn it will drop all its leaves. Someone at the Auckland Council assured me that leaves are not a major problem with drains, and yet all down our street, there are mounds of leaves sitting in the drains. The man at the council also told me they are keen to plant more natives. Not sure if they realise that liquidambars are native to Canada.

Perhaps we could have been consulted on the type of tree. As we are expected to mow our berms, we will no doubt be expected to look after any trees on the berm. How about a small evergreen? A mandarin tree, perhaps, and then the kids who walk to school along our street could enjoy the fruit.

After the tree had been planted, we found a leaflet in our letterbox, stating that “Auckland Council is planning to plant a tree outside your property”. Retrospective consultation? We tried to contact the council via the email address provided on the leaflet but it bounced back as “undeliverable”.

Should we cancel our next rates instalment, due this month?

Sarah Thompson, Papakura.

Haunting message for van Velden

As the cartoon in the Herald in Sunday illustrates, women in New Zealand have honoured Kate Sheppard since votes for women were obtained in 1893.

MP Brooke van Velden will possibly rue the day she presented the Pay Equity Bill in Parliament. A glance at the $10 note shows us all how keenly we recognise the efforts of those women who worked for suffrage more than a century ago.

Although hoping for a more balanced pay claim mechanism for women workers, the current bill has not endeared the coalition Government to those women already involved in valuable employment who wish to advance their pay scales.

Deeper consideration of the value of the work done mainly by women in education, health and service industries would have been a wiser course than the outright scrapping of current pay claims.

True to the old adage, we must now admit that “a woman’s work is never done”.

Thank you to Rod Emmerson for his incisive cartoon.

Diana Burslem, Epsom.

Events playing out in real time

This Thursday marks the 77th anniversary of what the Palestinians refer to as the Nakba, the displacement of 750,000 Palestinians in 1948.

Today, families are bombed, starved, and dispossessed in real time.

Even the United Kingdom’s Financial Times now warns that an “expanded offensive would ... further undermine Israel’s tarnished standing”.

When such voices speak out, it shows how much public opinion is shifting, not from ideology, but conscience.

Dana A Patterson, Waiheke Island.