Wake Up Government you should be band from social media not the youth

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We keep saying we do things “in the best interests of the children.”
It’s the favourite line. The moral get-out-of-jail card.

But here’s the problem: you don’t protect a kid’s future by stealing their present and invoicing them for it later.

You ban their digital commons, strip away the tools they learned to socialise with, and quietly hand them the bill for a nation drowning in debt. That’s not care. That’s contradiction.

If this is about their future, then let’s talk about the future properly.

Because while adults argue about screens, we’re loading these kids up with obligations they didn’t vote for, policies they didn’t design, and economic messes they’ll be stuck cleaning up. We tell them to log off for their wellbeing — then sentence them to decades of repayment for decisions made long before they could spell “budget deficit.”

That’s not cool. That’s not fair. And it’s definitely not honest.

These kids grew up digital. Online wasn’t a hobby — it was infrastructure. Social media wasn’t just selfies and dopamine hits; it was culture, music, language, organising, discovery. You don’t just pull the plug and say, “trust us, this is for you.” Trust is built — not enforced.

Yes, the internet has teeth. But so does the real world. We don’t ban streets because cars crash. We teach road rules. We improve the design. We adapt. That’s what responsible adults do.

And if the government truly believes under-16s shouldn’t be on social media, then where is the alternative?
Where do they learn what’s happening?
What’s trending?
What’s changing?
What’s worth caring about?

Are they meant to fall culturally behind while we pat ourselves on the back for “protecting” them? Or ask their parents to translate the internet like it’s a foreign language?

If you take something away, you replace it. That’s basic governance.

What makes this worse is how outdated the system is. Technology has sprinted ahead while government policy is still stretching its hamstrings. Our institutions don’t talk to each other. Our laws don’t sync with reality. And the people making digital decisions often don’t even live digitally.

We need to stop pretending one slow, analogue machine can govern both worlds. We need a digital parliament alongside the physical one — people who actually understand online ecosystems, youth culture, platforms, and the consequences of pulling levers in virtual spaces.

Because right now, we’re making rules for tomorrow using yesterday’s understanding.

And through all of this, remember one thing — the kids are coming.
They will inherit the debt.
They will inherit the systems.
They will inherit the consequences.

So if we’re serious about acting in their best interests, let’s stop punishing them pre-emptively, stop mortgaging their future, and stop calling rushed policy “protection.”

You don’t build a better world for kids by fencing them out of it.

You build it with them.

The kids are watching.
They always have been.