Should We Ban Social Media for Children? EP4

Episode 4 Transcript

Welcome to the marketing combat podcast. I'm Jason Donnelly and this is Chris Kubbernus. Hello folks. Every single weekday we battle it out for five minutes for your listening pleasure. The best part is we both know the marketing topic, but beforehand, but one of us gets to decide what they're fighting for. It means the other person has to defend something that they may not actually want to defend. And today's topic is going to be Australia's talking about banning social media.

for kids, so are you for it or against it? Personally, I don't think that any kid should have social media until they're 18 years old, because at the end of the day, I remember I'm gonna...

get my cane out for this one. But I remember when I was a kid and we just went and played. Now I'm going past, I'm driving past playgrounds, I'm on the train seeing kids. They're just this, all day, every day. I would love to see kids just go and play a little bit. The mindset, I know as a marketer this is gonna be a tough one to say, but the mindset of somebody who says, how do I get more kids?

to buy things? I don't know. It messes me up to think about that's something that we're doing today. Like, how am I gonna get to kids to buy this product to make sure that they know that they need this product to be happy? To be happy, to be successful, to be whatever. And like, when they're 18, do whatever you want. If you can fight for your country, you can get on social media. That's my thoughts right now.

Okay, so, but you're assuming that social media is only for commercial activities. Like social media is so much wider than that. Social media is entertainment. It's connecting with your friends. It's seeing a broader world out there. And I think we really need a world where we can see everything that's going on there. We can be exposed to all the great ideas, the things that are going on in the world, the things that are going on in other countries, the culture, all the breaths of information that's there, right? It'd be like social media is the internet now. So it'd be like saying, we're going to ban the internet for children.

and they're not gonna be able to do their homework or see, you know, learn about other things, like learn about other cultures. I how many kids nowadays spend their time on TikTok or YouTube listening to, you know, reading, or not reading, but like getting information about Napoleon or, you know, French food or how to train a dog or how to build a birdhouse. So many of these amazing things that social media and the internet has given us, we're just now gonna say, it's too dangerous for you. How is that a

How is that possible? can we agree on that? Are you ready for this? In Australia, I think all these numbers, guys write to me, tell me how wrong I am or how right, whatever. In the 90s, Australia had this massive shooting, like a horrible, so many people were killed, and Australian government said, no more.

No more guns. And Australia was like, yeah, that makes sense. That checks out. And I think that's the same thing that's happening right now. And I think Australia will be the one who says, yeah, let's, let's cut it. And they'll be like, yeah, no, that checks out. Cause we, we've keep talking about social media as the cigarette of our time. And I think we got to get kids off the cigarettes at least until they're 18. Really? I mean, the thing is though, like

shooting and guns and cigarettes and drinking, they're not the same as social media. I nothing really good comes from cigarettes. Nothing really good comes from drinking alcohol other than it's a little bit fun. Nothing good comes from guns other than you get to kill things with it. mean, yes, you can hunt with them. Yes, you can.

provide sustenance for your life. We don't need to do that anymore. We're in a different part of our lives and our culture and society. So it's not a necessity to protect yourself anymore with guns. And it's not a necessity to kill, you know, baby, baby Bambi to feed your family. But cigarettes and drinking aren't the same as social media. I so many other great things have come from social media. So many lost people that, you know, don't feel connected to their family or their friends. They find others that they connect with, others that they can learn from, others that they can can

connect with, like I said, and really find their community and find some community to be with. And if we're just going to deny that for children, I think it'll be very sad for them. I think they won't be able to actually grow into better people because they won't have that breadth of experience. They're going to have a very narrow mindset. They're just going to know what's in their hometown and not the vast amount of entertainment and information and all these great things that social media can provide.

And you believe that social media is the only way that they can get that instead of YouTube? Well, is YouTube a social media though? Like, that's an entertainment platform. What's that? We can argue that on another episode, but YouTube is an entertainment platform. But then maybe Netflix becomes an entertainment platform. you have, and then you want to trust Netflix and you want to trust YouTube to decide what your kids can see. Do you want them to decide like...

They're gonna suppress certain things. It's not gonna be a democracy. I freedom of information isn't gonna exist. Basically, the kids will just get a narrow view of whatever Netflix wants to put out. Is that, and then you're beholden to a corporation. mean, wouldn't you like to have diversity of voices? Wouldn't you like to have this person in this country that they can communicate straight with your children and they don't have to go through a corporate entity? I think at the end of the day,

Kids are getting advertised to, I think that's the thing that really bothers me more than anything else, that kids are getting sold stuff to. Maybe it's a complete ban on selling to kids or selling to anyone under 18. Because obviously the things that you're saying make sense and it's things that you're gonna see on YouTube and you're gonna see on whatever social channels you want. But the second that it's...

advertisers trying to force somebody to buy something, I'm not in. But we had that when we had TV. I mean, we had FloTV, Sunday morning cartoons. I mean, like, and we turned out okay. Like, and electricity. I'm done. And electricity. Just because I saw an ad for a Nerf gun, you know, when I was six years old or seven years old, it didn't damage me. I that a Nerf gun right now. Yeah. I mean, and that's a good thing. I think like Nerf guns are amazing. But I think like, so

We think that advertising is a big old bully, but the truth of the matter is, we're all able to suss out what's good for us and what's bad for us. I like the freedom aspect to decide what I choose. mean, we don't have to buy stuff just because we get advertised to. We're not mindless zombies. I think we can make choices. Also, parents have the money, so parents, they're responsible for purchasing that Nerf gun or that soda bottle or that McDonald's. mean, while we say, we can advertise the children, well,

Parents are the ones holding the purse strings. So parents, what are you doing? Like, aren't you responsible for some of this? Why are you putting it on the advertisers? Because you're weak and you can't decide to say no to your children when they go past McDonald's and they say, I want a cheeseburger. I've been susceptible to advertising. It's like, come on, grow up, parent. Say no. No, you can't have a cheeseburger. I don't care how much advertising of those golden arches you've seen. What do you think? Everybody out there.

What do you think? You tell us. Do you think the kids should be advertised to under 18, under 21, under 35? Social media, that's a different story. Social media? Anything. Do think kids should be advertised to, period? You tell us in the comments. I hate this episode. I hate everything about advertising. I don't want to move on the episode. I really am the opposite, right? Like, you know me, Jace. I really think that kids should stay off social media. My kids don't even have social media. But what do you guys think? Let us know. you for it or against it? Banning social media for children.

Ban it for everyone. For everyone. Do it. Ban it for everyone. I love that thought. Except TikTok. And Facebook. He's not for message. But X. You can get rid of X. Get rid of X. Nobody uses it anyway. Except Bob. I like Twitter, actually. I really do like Twitter. It's on him. All right. Good luck, guys.