The Plank - Pastor's Pen for 5th July 2026

I was thinking about the moves to ban under 16s from using social media by the current government. They would seem to be in good company, with Australia and the UK further down that track already. At face value, it seems like a good idea to many adults, as we instinctively want to protect the young from harmful online content. It seems to me like something that will be hard to police, given that many young people are internet savvy and will be able to use pretty simple workarounds to beat the system, as some that we know in Australia are already doing. The only way the initiative would actually work is to impose a draconian personal data verification system which would affect everyone, not just the kids.

Just today, as another cynical attack post from a politician came across my Facebook feed, I thought of the words of Jesus in Matthew 7:3; "Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?" My point is; many of the very politicians who are pushing to protect the young from social media harm, are themselves regularly contributing harmful social media content which is either derogatory, disingenuous or bordering on disinformation.

They want to be seen to be doing something, but to me it is hypocritical window dressing. Under 16s are an easy target because they don't get to vote. An unintended consequence will be to push the young ones to even darker corners of the internet. There will also be immune-compromised, disabled or neurodiverse kids for whom social media is a life-line of belonging to a community.

The harder and better task would be to effectively regulate all the tax-dodging big-tech companies who make their billion-dollar living from the free-flow of unverified 'information' on social media. Also the 'adults' need to deal with that plank. But I won't be holding my breath...