Sociologist calls for policymakers to open debate on social media impact

Sociologist Michael Briguglio wants policymakers to open an evidence-based discussion on the overall impact of social media on our lives.

With Malta being one of the most fixated EU countries on social media, this analysis should determine whether any legislation should be later introduced to limit or curb screen time and/or social media use (SMU) - directly or indirectly.

Briguglio, an Associate Professor at the University of Malta within the Department of Sociology, believes that this evidence compilation must be done through a bottom-up approach. This discussion should see policymakers listen to all groups of society.

He stated that the dangers of the online world are exacerbated for the youngest members of society and can range from potentially being exposed to fake news or misinformation by self-declared journalists, influencers and experts to inappropriate content, to growing one's dependency on social media platforms and becoming addicted.

Prof. Briguglio believes that should this discussion be opened, it is vital for all age demographics of society to be involved, including those who fall outside either of the typical adult age bracket between 18-65 years of age, that is, children and the elderly, due to the differences in how they interact with these platforms. He pointed out that youths coped with the Covid-19 pandemic better than older people since, for them, the social interactions they had with their friends did not change much during this period; as such, he emphasised the importance of listening to the varying perspectives of different demographics on social media to gain a comprehensive understanding of both the benefits and drawbacks of the digital world. A recent study showed that Maltese teenagers ranked second highest out of 44 countries for addiction-like social media use, with girls at higher risk than boys. In Malta, 28% of 13-year-old girls and 24% of 15-year-old girls showed problematic use of social media, compared to 14% and 13% of boys respectively.

Briguglio said that given the complex list of pros and cons behind social media and general smartphone use, he is unsure on how exactly this situation should be approached locally. He described himself to be a person who is not too optimistic or sceptical on these technologies, including artificial intelligence, though he believes that data must play a role in the "evidence-based approach" that legislators may take on.

Briguglio explained that such evidence must not just come from IT experts, but should come also from an array of disciplines that are representative of social media's multifaceted dimensions, such as its social, cultural, psychological and educational aspects.

"Some countries are introducing laws which reduce access to social media among young people. I'm not so sure, I don't really have an opinion on whether it's good or bad. Social media gives us certain skills which we wouldn't have dreamt of, but there are many dangers as well. It's a double-edged sword," he said.

He noted that given the dangers of social media, it is very important to equip people "to be capable of recognising the possibilities and even the perils of such things". He added that the European Parliament is currently very vocal in promoting the idea of educating people to circumvent the negatives of the online world by themselves.

"Some of us may be equipped to realise there is a difference between media online and something in a newspaper, but some of us are not, and that is a big problem - not only on political news, but also on healthcare," Briguglio said.

Equipping oneself in this regard refers to the little actions carried out by individuals within their own everyday lives, such as optimising their personal algorithms or having more control over one's notifications; this is aside from the action that can be taken through "big government policies". According to Briguglio, enabling people to equip themselves is a very important role of the education system, since it is not exclusive to schools, but it is also responsible to promote lifelong learning.

"If people are not aware of how technology works, that can be a big minus," the sociologist remarked.

One approach that Prof. Briguglio admitted being wary about were blanket bans. While social media platforms in fact have features that render them addictive, "this doesn't mean we should throw away the baby with the bath water". Positively-speaking, he commended the connectivity these platforms may provide as well as the "massive" access to knowledge.

He described social media to be a technological tool which its addictive features should be looked into. When discussing the idea of restricting SMU (social media use), Briguglio compared these digital platforms to foreign sugar tax on unhealthy foods. He said that social media is here to stay.

"There are many food items that are addictive too, but the issue is not removing food, but trying to find a sustainable way forward based on evidence," he said. "Some say sugar tax is the way forward since it is a deterrent to consuming unhealthy food, others say it is unfair as it forces poor people to spend more of their [limited] money on a basic necessity," especially when considering that healthier food is typically more expensive, he added.

Briguglio also commented that over-regulation can sometimes have a negative impact, arguing that in this case, hindering free speech can go too far, even though free speech comes with its own responsibility.

Studies confirm that Maltese love social media, should action be taken?

Prof. Briguglio said that according to a recent Eurostat study, Maltese have been found to use social media a lot more than the average EU country; while 59% of all EU individuals were found to be using social networks in 2023, the same data for the Maltese stood at 76%.

A 2021 European Commission study on teenagers' screen time had found that 47% of Maltese 11-year-olds spend at least two hours of their typical day on a computer; this percentage rose to 54% for local 15-year-olds.

According to a WHO collaborative cross-national study in the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC, 2022), featuring the participation of 44 countries, adolescents in Malta (18%) are the second-most likely young nationals to exhibit signs of problematic SMU; the only country in this study that observed more prevalent problematic SMU was Romania (22%). When age groups were split into categories of 11-, 13- and 15-year-olds, Malta ranked in the top four of all three demographics for which its youths report problematic SMU.

On the other side of the coin, Malta also recorded the lowest proportion of non-active social media users with just 8% of adolescents, tied with Denmark and Serbia.

Malta also ranked highest - this time out of 13 participating countries in this section of research - for recording the highest proportion of adolescents "at risk of problematic gaming" (19%) as well as the highest prevalence for 11-year-old girls enjoying long gaming sessions of at least four hours (19%).

Other sources, such as Euronews, have also shown that this issue of excessive screen time is also impacting the youngest of children. On 30 September, the European news network published that over 75% of toddlers in Europe, aged three to four years of age, "get too much screen time and not enough sleep and exercise". From these findings, researchers expressed great worry in the future implications of these children's development, specifically for "lifelong health and wellbeing", since this age window in early childhood is a "critical" time to establish good habits.

When given these statistics, Briguglio said that this data is underreporting the issue since people do not care to admit the true amount of time they spend in front of a screen.

"I think we spend more time than we are admitting," he said.

The sociology professor expressed concern about this issue both as a parent and an educator. He described that "it is a concern" that he often observes students scrolling away on their devices during his lectures, despite his best efforts to promote student participation. Despite these frequent observations, the sociologist called for policymakers not to rush for action to be taken, stating that first a discussion must be held where the facts are ironed out, the options are weighed out, and only then should they consider an evidence-based solution.

"We have to ask a lot of questions here," he said. "Some are assuming that, yes, we have to do something about it - we need to discuss it if we have to do something about it, that's the first thing."

Briguglio continued that if lawmakers decide that action should be taken to introduce some sort of digital restrictions for the general health and wellbeing of society, then they must decide if Malta should follow other European countries that have already taken such measures.

Denmark is the most recent European nation to see its schools introduce a mobile-free policy throughout the school day, causing the Danes to begin a reversion from being one of the continent's leaders in promoting digital learning in education to going back on a more traditional approach to educating school children.

Other European countries such as Hungary, France, the Netherlands and Greece have also attempted, through their own methods, to restrict mobile phones in schools in the past year, in an effort to combat mobile phone addiction, get students to play more with one another, take up more sports and absorb more information in the classroom through the absence of digital distractions.

Briguglio commented on how personalised social media algorithms work to keep people hooked into TikTok and other social media platforms and that "it is very difficult to get out of doomscrolling".

He said that legislators have many potential options should they decide that action must be taken to curb this trend in digital overreliance. One avenue he spoke positively of is the Maltese Parliament's engagement, specifically through a committee made up of experts from various disciplines, including those from civil society.

Ramifications of excessive SMU

Briguglio recounted that in spite of all of social media's positives, it is good to be aware of all the negatives that come with its excessive use, such as time taken away from doing other tasks, reduced attention spans and vaster sociocultural impacts.

One major concern that was discussed is that with society's unshakeable grip from social media, "our attention span might be reducing". Briguglio stated that in our world of information, "really and truly, you need to focus when you really want to grasp knowledge". He described how social media platforms are nowadays "designed for this" and to keep people hooked into daily hours of doomscrolling. TikTok is arguably the most well-known for this today.

The sociologist also referenced some books, such as works by American author Cal Newport, that have discussed how "we are losing our focus - the method of focusing for a number of hours to carry out a task, like writing an article - because we have so many distractions". Newport has written that modern societies are nowadays fixated on being as fast as possible and are choosing to lean towards having quantity over quality in production.

Prof. Briguglio explained that due to social media's widespread presence in society, driven by its effective design to keep users engaged, those considering limiting their smartphone use by muting notifications might experience a fear of missing out. He added that the mental dopamine hits provided in SMU make it even more difficult for one to take a step away from these platforms, as they "almost encourage you to have notifications and updates".

He also observed that with excessive SMU, people also expose themselves further to consuming media from media houses and "self-declared journalists" who are more after the production of "snackable media, which is usually very fast, can be visual and very easily go viral". He added that this failure to be aware about one's exposure to misinformation is a "major educational and political challenge".

Prof. Briguglio stated that since social media is quite Americanised, it is vital for the government to invest more in the Maltese language - even in this field, he said. He also added that it is "extremely important" for authorities to assist our creatives and content creators in Maltese, as well as maybe make available funds more mainstream.

"I don't think you can really stop the wave here - the growing use of Americanised English is a global phenomenon," Professor Briguglio exclaimed. "By all means, we need to invest more in the Maltese language."

The sociologist said he doesn't blame children for seeking entertainment made by foreign giants in the entertainment industry and that it is "useless trying to stop the wave". However, he said "we can invest more in our own creative industries" such as literature, content creation and digital media to create more Maltese success stories.

He remarked that language is one of the main sources of social integration and that it gives us a sense of identity and community as the world grows more disjointed and divisive.