MANILA, Philippines — Children below the age of 16 should not use social media without supervision, according to the Philippine Pediatrics Society (PPS).
"The PPS does not recommend social media use among children aged 16 and below. If access is permitted, it should not be independent; accounts should be co-managed by a parent or guardian, with active supervision, clear boundaries, and age-appropriate guidance, particularly for individuals with developmental and psychosocial vulnerabilities," the PPS said in its position paper published on Friday.
It also said that parents and caregivers play a "central and irreplaceable role" and are "best position" to assess each child's developmental readiness.
"PPS regards 16 years as a population-level protective threshold, consistent with emerging international policy directions for platform-level protections for minors. Age thresholds are useful public health safeguards, but they do not replace individualized assessment of readiness and risk. Developmental capacity, vulnerability, and the quality of caregiver supervision remain important considerations even beyond this age," the group said.
"Children and adolescents are in a sensitive and critical periods of neurodevelopment. Impulse control, emotional regulation, judgment, and social functioning are still maturing. Critically, this process does not end at 18 years of age. Brain systems governing regulation, decision-making, and long-term planning continue to develop into the mid-20s. Because reward and emotional reactivity systems mature earlier than prefrontal inhibitory systems, younger users are more susceptible to highly stimulating, attention-capturing, and commercially driven digital environments. They need meaningful adult guidance and structural protection to navigate these spaces safely," it added.
It cited that protecting children online is a shared responsibility among parents, guardians, schools and the government.
"PPS recommends restricting unsupervised social media access for children and adolescents aged 16 years and below. This position reflects the documented developmental vulnerability of young people in digital environments and the clear need for stronger protection from harmful content, compulsive platform design, sleep disruption, and associated online risks,"
"Keeping Filipino children safe online is a shared responsibility. Families, schools, pediatricians, platforms, and policymakers each have a role to play. PPS is committed to education, prevention, early intervention, and advocacy as the core pillars of a child-protective digital health agenda," it added.
The publishing of the position paper came amid the recent trend of incidents in schools across the nation, including a school shooting in Tacloban City that killed three students.
