Alison Bennett's Monday Mail: Social media and me
Social media and me
I think I signed up to Facebook in the middle of the noughties, but I would say that my relationship with social media really began in March 2008. I was expecting our eldest child, and we had a skiing holiday booked. Not being able to ski because I was pregnant, James bought me an iPod Touch to allay any feelings of guilt he might experience whilst hurtling down the slopes. I loved the iPod Touch, and so my relationship with smart devices began.
Undoubtedly, the advent of the smart phone and social media has profoundly shaped who I am today. Without it, I would not have been on a parenting forum where one new mum stood and was elected as a councillor, and it made me think, ‘Maybe I could do that too’. Having listened to this speech, I would not have clicked ‘follow’ on the Lib Dem Twitter account in May 2015, and then motivated by the hashtag #LibDemFightback clicked on the link to join the Party. In the wake of the EU Referendum, I would not have set up a Whatsapp group called ‘Political Rantings’ with a small group of friends in my village where we vented to each other - and vowed to do something about it.
Quite simply, without a smart phone and social media, I would not now be a Member of Parliament. It’s a job I love, and it’s a job I would never have dreamed was possible for me without meeting people online who inspired me to think a little bit bigger, and who offered to help me every step of the way.
There have been costs to me too. Too much screen time. A thing that is designed to constantly distract burning a hole in my pocket. A lazy preference for reading articles online rather than getting stuck into whole books. Of course I worry about the impacts not just on me, but on my children too. In terms of their personal usage of tech, but also us as a family simply being present in each other’s company.
In the last week, I have been inundated with hundreds of emails from worried parents and grandparents across Mid Sussex as part of the Smart Phone Free Childhood campaign. They are calling for a ban on social media for under 16s. I have even been encouraged to write to my own MP when parents have messages about this using Whatsapp. The irony is not lost on me that a campaign designed to limit social media usage for children has been propagated through social media amongst adults.
The internet and social media is a double edged sword. As an adult, I recognise that whilst the harms are greater for children who are growing and developing, us adults are also affected by how we use tech and what the content that we consume does to shape what we believe and the choices that we make.
Given those greater harms for children, I am really proud of the work that my colleagues in the Science Innovation and Technology team led by Victoria Collins MP have done to develop a Liberal Democrat policy on how we would keep children safe online. In essence instead of a blanket ban on all social media for those who are under 16, we are proposing a film classification style harms-based approach. You can read more about our plans here, and I would be interested in your thoughts on this most pressing of issues - please do email me or fill in the survey
Thank you.
Getting in touch
My parliamentary email address is: alison.bennett.mp@parliament.uk. If you need my help, please get in touch.
Best wishes,
Alison
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