Band 7+: Many countries are experiencing a rise in digital distraction among teenagers, which reduces their attention span and academic performance. What problems does this create? What measures could be taken to address them?

Teenagers in many countries are overly occupied with their digital devices. The format of the content they consume has inevitably shortened their attention span, while also adversely affecting their learning. Although the dire consequences of this trend can be seen in their social and professional prospects, to deal with it, governments may need to intervene.

Short attention span and poor school performance among teenagers hinders their social development in the first place. That is, by satisfying their constant thirst for more and more social media content, not only do teenagers miss out on a chance to interact with others, but also, they fail to make friends. The latter plays a more significant role in maintaining mental health of the young consumers, while the former increasingly deteriorates it. Additionally, with limited ability to focus, these teenagers jeopardize their odds of securing a well-paid job, which in turn means that there may be a whole generation of workers without an ability to concentrate properly brewing.

In order to avoid these, it is imperative that governments take drastic actions to combat the way in which these digital devices are ruining teenagers’ mental capabilities. It is within their authority to simply ban the access and use of any social media until children reach a certain age: say 16. By doing so, governments ensure that their young’s minds are inculcated by more essential knowledge and values, with their mental health being prevented from degradation. This has recently been implemented by Australian authority who banned any form of social media participation for anyone under 16. Alternatively, should governments want to avoid total ban, they are still capable of insisting that social media platforms come up with measures to limit teenage access to their services to a certain number of hours per week, for example.

To conclude, while inability to properly concentrate and low school grades – the direct outcomes of digital distraction – can damage teenagers’ social skills and professional expectations, authorities are still in power of regulating teenage exposure to these. The steps to take can be either drastic or gradual: prohibition of social media use among teenagers, or at least limiting how much they use it to an extent.