An interesting discussion this week about social media curfews for teenagers got me thinking…
I think we’re overlooking the biggest influence of all… Artificial Intelligence (AI).
A social media curfew may switch off certain platforms after midnight, but it won’t switch off AI. Additionally, it’s simple enough to override the curfew and some teenagers are already asking, ‘What’s the point?’ – I can see the logic behind that reaction.
Beyond social media, AI is part of search (now Google’s AI overview), homework apps (EdTech), messaging, creativity and everyday life. AI doesn’t have a curfew. It’s available whenever a child has a question, feels lonely, wants reassurance or simply wants someone to talk to. Oh… almost forget, and it’s on every smartphone and digital device – a chat bot many children now call a ‘friend’.
The conversation must become bigger than social media. We shouldn’t only ask, ‘Which platforms are children using?’ We should also ask, ‘Who – or what – is shaping the voice our children trust?’
As these systems become more capable, the question won’t simply be whether children have access to AI, but whether they are prepared to use it wisely.
But what does ‘wisely’ mean when you’re young, curious, vulnerable and still learning whom to trust?
Nope. We can’t rely on switching technology off. Innovation is far outpacing AI regulation. But AI is just a baby. No-one, and I mean no-one, knows what it’s going to be when it grows up! The scale of investment in AI suggests we are weaving it deeply into everyday life, not preparing to remove it. The challenge – it seems clear to me – is to prepare children to live alongside AI with confidence, curiosity and critical thinking.
That means helping parents, teachers and carers become AI-literate too, so that the first voice children trust isn’t simply the one that answers fastest, but the one that knows them best. Us.
That’s why I like Laura Bishop PhD approach: ‘Today’s parents have no choice but to become pioneers.’
Preparation, not prohibition, is how we protect the next generation.
P.S. Don’t get me wrong: where platforms are demonstrably harming children, why are we discussing switching them off after midnight rather than asking whether children should have access to them at all? But we have to bring our children with us on that journey otherwise they’ll continue to ask, ‘What’s the point?’
Simon
