Earlier this week, the National Party put forward a member’s Bill for the social media ban.
The Bill drew a mixed reaction, including from Associate Education Minister David Seymour, who said it was "simple, neat and wrong".
However, principals across Otago thought the ban was a good idea, but noted there was little detail about how it would be enforced.
Dunedin North Intermediate School principal Heidi Hayward recently sent a newsletter to her school’s community outlining the "insidious" nature of social media and tips about what parents could do to discourage online activity.
She told the Otago Daily Times social media was having a significant impact on how society operated and its positives did not outweigh the harm.
Giving children and young teenagers the anonymity of social media was a "recipe for disaster".
"My argument is that adults don’t manage themselves on social media. Why on earth do we think that kids will manage?"
She was dealing with something that had happened online on a daily basis.
"I’m talking the tip of the iceberg in terms of what I see and there are dangerous, illegal, nasty, nefarious things happening online.
"Parents are just genuinely gobsmacked about what their kids are seeing and accessing or actually saying themselves."
Ms Hayward said it was worth implementing the ban straight away because the risk associated with social media was known and action needed to be taken to mitigate it.
It was difficult to take action as a parent or an educator when dealing with such a prolific issue, Ms Hayward said.
"Making that line in the sand now will make a difference for next year’s kids that are just getting to the age where they’re getting a phone and they’re saying to their parents, ‘Can I have social media?’.
"It’s too late for those that have got it, but it doesn’t mean that we should throw our hands in the air and say ‘Oh well, nothing we can do; that horse is bolted’."
Otago Primary Principals Association chairwoman Kim Blackwood said nine principals from around the region had told her it was great there was a conversation about social media, but no-one knew how a ban would be mandated.
"Once again the government puts these things out here, but they don’t actually tell us
how they think it’s going to work."
University of Otago department of psychology professor Ted Ruffman was researching how social media could cause difficulties in social understanding later in life.
He said 90% of the issues the schools faced were on social media.
It was known that social media was associated with worse wellbeing —especially among adolescent females.
"I think the social media world introduces a whole bunch of new dangers.
"You can pretend you are anybody on social media, you can’t do that in person."
