REACH (Telegram) 137 - What are your views on Singapore’s approach to regulating social media use among adolescents to mitigate potential harms? Do you think more needs to be done?
(SK)
22 Apr 2026 (10am - 7pm)
REACH (Telegram)
[22/4/2026 9:50 am] REACH Singapore: Dear Contributors,
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Megan 😊
[22/4/2026 10:00 am] REACH Singapore: 📢 Topic 📢
Speaking to reporters on April 21 at the close of his trip in Hangzhou, China, following the 5th Singapore-China Social Governance Forum on Monday, Coordinating Minister for Social Policies Ong Ye Kung said social media has a profound impact on how children are growing up and Singapore must move to address the harms it is causing, with options that are not limited to a ban. Instead of an outright ban, Singapore can look at how concerns about such features can be addressed, he said.
💬 What are your views on Singapore’s approach to regulating social media use among adolescents to mitigate potential harms? Do you think more needs to be done?
📌 Harms of social media on adolescents
Mr Ong, who is also the health minister, said social media changes human relationships "quite profoundly". "They can talk to the whole world, but not their neighbours. So all these actually affect people-to-people relationships.
Mr Ong said the aspects of social media that pose harm to adolescents are features such as algorithmic feeds, videos that play automatically, and direct messaging by adults to young users.
This was an observation by an expert panel formed by Singapore’s Health Ministry to study the issue, and which is now finalising its report, added Mr Ong, who is also Coordinating Minister for Social Policies.
Some critics say that such feeds and video playback could encourage addictive behaviour and excessive screen time, while direct messaging potentially exposes adolescents to cyber-bullying, predators, or inappropriate content from strangers.
📌 Need for a calibrated approach
Social media has also had an impact on children. Mr Ong noted that various countries have implemented or discussed implementing social media bans for teens.
Some countries have banned, or are considering banning, adolescents from using social media.
Such a move gained traction after Australia, in December 2025, became the first to bar children under 16 from accessing social media. But this has also drawn criticism that young people will simply go to other websites or find workarounds.
Mr Ong said he believed there is a net benefit to such a move, but added that the issue was complex and bans are “blunt tools”. He added that adolescents “do use social media to maintain friendship, keep in touch with friends, and use it for education. So it’s not all bad, it is actually a lot of good.”
He stressed that Singapore "can also take an approach that, instead of banning, let's look at how these features and our concern about these features can be addressed.”
The Ministry of Digital Development and Information will be engaging with tech platforms on these concerns. “Our options are open, but we will have to do something about this problem,” Mr Ong said.
👉 https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/singapore-has-to-act-to-regulate-social-media-use-for-adolescents-ong-ye-kung
👉 https://www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/social-governance-law-enforcement-technology-privacy-concerns-ong-ye-kung-6070941
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[22/4/2026 10:36 am] 365: There is one way, but it might still require some research on the possibility and feasibility of implementation.
Make videos that are deemed not suitable for adolescents invisible. On the surface, nothing changes when they're scrolling, but on the back end, they are being protected. This is by no means foolproof, and to be used in conjunction with other solutions.
The invisibility of the censorship makes them less likely to rebel, theoretically there should be fewer who will still resort to VPN rather than just accepting what has been given to them. Don't even show messages like "this content is not suitable for you", just return no results or the spinning circle that usually indicates still loading.
Even if the pattern becomes apparent and public knowledge, the brain immediately associates what it experiences to be the truth instead. People are more likely to accept that something just never exist rather than something existing but denied from them.
For user verification, it will be risk based instead of absolute, as we know there has been great public pushback against id or photo verification in other parts of the world. Instead, an Ai risk-based assessment on the content that the user is interested in, how long they engage with particular content, will be used to determine their age.
[22/4/2026 10:41 am] 365: As content curation has been widely accepted, even if undesirable, this can be seen as another invisible layer of content curation
[22/4/2026 10:43 am] 365: The challenge now is how to implement from isp side, as there's too many social media platforms to go after and get them to cooperate.
[22/4/2026 10:58 am] Adam: I think the physical streets are unsafe. Sometimes very risky. Got cars. Got predators. I see adult toys and contraceptives in watsons, ntuc.
Therefore we need to ban kids from some stores. Not allowed to go in medical section of ntuc or they might overdose on gummie meds.
Kids cannot go to some places like beaches or parks unless its designated for children. There might be predators. By default websites dont verify if minors are accompanied by adults so they cant go if accompanied either.
We need our police nsf to patrol streets to make sure everyone has their nric. If they dont, they might be a minor.
Cyberspace can cause harms online.
But Physical space can cause Physical harm. Think of the Children! If we do all this online, why isnt physical as regulated?
[22/4/2026 11:00 am] REACH Singapore: [ Poll : 1. Singapore should regulate certain social media features (e.g. algorithmic feeds, auto-play, direct messaging) to better protect adolescents from online harms. Share your views in the chat! ]
- Strongly agree
- Agree
- Neutral
- Disagree
- Strongly disagree
[22/4/2026 11:00 am] REACH Singapore: [ Poll : 2. I am confident in Singapore’s ability to regulate social media use among adolescents to better protect them from online harms. Share your reasons in the chat! ]
- Strongly Agree
- Agree
- Neutral
- Disagree
- Strongly Disagree
[22/4/2026 11:01 am] Adam: Whole of society needs to be controlled and regulated with the reason being to make a safe space for children
[22/4/2026 11:03 am] REACH Singapore: Dear Contributors,
Please take a moment to participate in our polls and share your opinion. The poll questions are pinned for easy reference and your vote is anonymous.
We look forward to hearing your thoughts on today’s topic!
💬 What are your views on Singapore’s approach to regulating social media use among adolescents to mitigate potential harms? Do you think more needs to be done?
Thank you.
Megan 😊
[22/4/2026 11:26 am] 365: We have many physical restrictions and implementation already, most of the burden on care is put on the sellers for controlled item. Is it foolproof? Also no. However we have more reach and control within our physical spaces compared to digital.
It's why we can capture more thieves and robbers and show deterrence as compared to online scams, since digital space is relatively recent compared to physical space.
[22/4/2026 11:45 am] Khai Mun L.: What do you mean by kids cannot go to places not specifically designated as kid friendly? Who is going to define and enforce this?
E.g. my grandma house not kid friendly because got vases, swimming pool because got other adults.
And what about kids bullying other kids? Are we going to bubble wrap children in their own world?
[22/4/2026 11:48 am] Khai Mun L.: There are always new slangs and ways bypass social media and internet regardless if audience is young or old.
China's firewall is a good example. Porn, fake news, anti-government messages still appear
[22/4/2026 11:50 am] Khai Mun L.: And what's stopping adults from impersonating as adolescent, then targeting them?
Or we need to prove that kids are kids, and adults as adults? Very difficult to implement perfect solution
[22/4/2026 11:56 am] 365: There's no single solution to cover everything. It is all risk based on the environmental and cultural context. Hardly a definitive right or wrong, just different assessments on the cost benefit analysis.
[22/4/2026 11:58 am] 365: I personally think the ideal solution should be parents participating more themselves in guiding their children through the technology age. But the cultural context now is many parents are not doing this, common reasons cited being too fatigued from work and that it's not sustainable for them.
Then we move to what might be the next best solution, to implement censoring from the top, to punish parents for opting out, restricting businesses to allow breather room for parents, or to let it be as is and accept the outcome?
[22/4/2026 11:59 am] 365: We don't function on ideals, only real context available
[22/4/2026 12:04 pm] Khai Mun L.: Also what falls under 'social media'? The previous ISA caught adolescent was influenced by Roblox. Are online games considered?
What about forums like hardwarezone etc.
[22/4/2026 12:05 pm] Khai Mun L.: More persistent education and good role models/influence are a better solution than trying to whack-a-mole all the various web portals
[22/4/2026 12:10 pm] 365: Persistent education itself faces a different set of challenges. Used to be highly effective in the past, as there is a lack of alternative narrative and media outlet.
Now the effectiveness diminishes as it gets drowned out. It's easy to just say 'create better education' without having to go to specifics.
Incumbent has been losing political capital for a while, think that interferes with any hard measures they may want to try out as well, but I believe it may take exactly something radical to resolve the issue.
[22/4/2026 12:17 pm] Adam: We also then need to ban chatgpt. Ai spew a lot of things not for kids
[22/4/2026 12:18 pm] Adam: Then ban using google. They use ai and summary inaccurate and can even be harmful. Non kid sites are indexed there anyway
[22/4/2026 12:19 pm] Khai Mun L.: Banning internet for kids below a certain age? Or limit them to certain hours?
But they could always use someone else phone. E.g. parents often give free-usage of their phone to their children
[22/4/2026 12:20 pm] Khai Mun L.: Critical thinking skills. This should also apply for adults to learn with all the alternative websites
[22/4/2026 12:20 pm] Adam: If online so harmful need to ban kid. What happens if the parents let the kid use
[22/4/2026 12:21 pm] Adam: If parent let kid smoke cigs, is it marlboro fault?
[22/4/2026 12:21 pm] 365: It's a catch 22. Those without existing critical thinking skills, with the exposure to more outside media, hard to bring them back as they lack the exact same thinking skills to consume the information.
[22/4/2026 12:22 pm] 365: I believe sellers are held accountable for selling to minors, and any adults found to be supplying tabacco to minors are also held accountable. Need to double check on the law, but I believe this is already the case.
[22/4/2026 12:23 pm] 365: Is just that the logistics of something physical differs a lot from something digital
[22/4/2026 12:23 pm] Adam: They dont sell to minors. Like how websites can block if they find theres children. What if kids sneak through parents device
[22/4/2026 12:24 pm] Adam: If parents leave device unattended and kids harm themselves, are we gonna make them liable for child endangerment
[22/4/2026 12:24 pm] 365: This is why we can't really draw accurate analogies between physical and digital, because the whole logistics differ a lot
[22/4/2026 12:24 pm] Adam: At least now theres no culture or peer pressure for smoking but kids will get internet no matter what
[22/4/2026 12:26 pm] 365: Now given our cultural context and environment, should we be restricting, or using education, or maybe a mix of both. This is just the high level view, whether the implementation is even feasible or not is another issue in of itself.
[22/4/2026 12:28 pm] 365: I think education should definitely still continue, but with the limitations, it is not sufficient by itself. Unless somehow there is a new methodology for education that works much better through the current environment.
But no reason why we should restrict to just one avenue of solution.
[22/4/2026 1:04 pm] G: This is a low hanging fruit on the guise of "online safety" to put in place more measures to censor and control the population
More and more dystopian
More and more Orwellian
[22/4/2026 1:18 pm] Khai Mun L.: However, might there be a case for things to go whatever happens? We cannot protect realistically protect everyone.
Read recent news on some anti-vax believers, now get measles vaccine because it became too widespread and their neighbor kids affected.
https://www.straitstimes.com/world/united-states/as-measles-takes-toll-on-kids-anti-vaxxers-in-us-have-change-of-heart
[22/4/2026 1:19 pm] Khai Mun L.: Some harm have to happen in order to wake people up
[22/4/2026 1:43 pm] Adam: One big issue is the gov tend to overcorrect by the time something happen
[22/4/2026 1:44 pm] Adam: Now pcn is a permanent fixture that has dubious value in our car lite plans
[22/4/2026 1:44 pm] Adam: Many things are banned just like chewing gum
[22/4/2026 1:47 pm] 365: Why pcn has dubious value? I actually enjoy it, relatively better space for cycling also, and hope it expands more.
I think this is an example of just different people have different values and priorities, sometimes directly contradicting, and the government can't fulfill everyone's priorities at the same time.
[22/4/2026 2:01 pm] REACH Singapore: 📢 Topic 📢
[22/4/2026 2:54 pm] Adam: https://youtu.be/cmqPref2cME
[22/4/2026 3:25 pm] Joomua Tng: regulations do not solve everything nor most of the problems.
1.) Education does help. "indoctrination" by educating the youth is better. The more you banned or regulate the more they will seek or find ways to find out about the banned and harmful social media. and it will get worse if no prior education is done to prepare them for such harmful social media.
2.) questions is what sort of "indoctrination" education.
a.) critical thinking
b.) empathy, sympathy, education and awareness. (the exercise of putting oneself in the "places" of the victims or situation. e.g. is slavery moral ? if yes, why ? if no, why? what if you are the slave? will you think it is moral?)
c. factual, scientific education. e.g. sex, STD and STI. what are the dangers. certain STD cannot be fully cured and worse, it will affect the next generation.
d.) building sterilization environment is not a good way to protect the youth or people. equip the people with the ability to filter out the harmful is better. similar to human body.
human body immune system has to "learn" what are beneficial external bacteria or body and what are harmful external bacteria and bodys.
a baby or child in fully sterilization environment will experience more health problem growing up into adults.
e.) same for harmful social media that promote terrorism. e.g. man made law is inferior to gods' law. encourage them to think. really?
what is the flaw in that statement of man made law is inferior to gods' law.
have they heard of a historical incident of 河神娶妻，during the ancient china?
"The River God Marries a Bride" usually refers to an old superstitious custom recorded in *Ximen Bao's Governance of Ye*, namely, the River God taking a bride. It describes a story from the Warring States period where local officials and shamans used superstition to fool the people, extort money, and kill people. Ultimately, the ruler of Ye in Wei ordered Ximen Bao to dispel the superstition, execute the witch and the three elders, and abolish this evil custom. The term later became a metaphor for using superstition for fraud or personal gain.
People's Daily Online Theory
+1 Key Points
Story Background: During the Warring States period, in Ye, a witch and three elders (local minor officials) forced the people to select beautiful girls from their towns every year and send them to the Zhang River to marry the River God (River God). Legend had it that if they didn't marry, there would be a great flood.
Essence: A feudal superstitious act of extortion that led to the tragic deaths of many young women, causing great suffering to the people.
Breaker: Ximen Bao, after investigating the matter thoroughly, used the excuse that "the girl wasn't pretty" to throw the witch and the officials into the river one after another, thus completely abolishing this evil custom.
Cultural Impact: It became a classic story for later generations to expose ignorance and combat feudal superstition.
.....
so what make you think that there is god and the people claiming gods' law is superior than man made law is not a lie
.....
f.) the way to protect youth or population from harmful social media is to equip youth and population the ability to protect themselves through critical thinking, moral education , especially important from a young age. primary school to secondary school and including polytechnics, Junior college and universities.
[22/4/2026 3:30 pm] LCL (Danny 心):
1. My family, siblings' families and close friends' families do not have young children yet, I can't assess the harm of social meida on young children.
2. But from an adult lens, social media indeed have negative influence on our mood, anxiety and sometimes can be disturbing and even distressing - depending on the type of videos push through by algorithmic feeds. (Though most of the time entertaining if looking at hilarious videos, news feed, music and funny pranks that are harmless)
For eg. this Tik Tok video that is push to me even though I don't like such video.
https://vt.tiktok.com/ZSH7YP7p1/
See the abuse in video.
3. Normally, I will skip such abusive videos if feed to me, but sometimes out of curiousity may view 1 or 2 such videos - and find it disturbing and distressing.
It make me angry why people can be cruel and ruthless to abuse the weaker person, why no one stop such abuse, why cannot do something to stop the abuse and help the victim (as this happen in a foreign country), the only thing I can do is to post a comment to request the local there report to the Police to save the victim.
4. But social media with negative content do affect people's mood, cause mental distress, being corner into an echo chamber that could affect the perspective we look at issues and cloud our judgement --- even to adults.
5. So I wonder how would children with developmental mental cognitive capacities process such social media content and videos - without negatively affected in their upbringing?
This is what that keep me thinking - especially when parents nowadays just buy smartphones to their children to keep them occupied. I see so many of such instances in food court - whereby the children, school children glue to their smartphones even when they are eating, walking...
[22/4/2026 3:34 pm] Joomua Tng: all the more reason the youth and population must learn how to manage and deal with such things.
people mental health problem, harmful social media problem occurs partly people do not know how to manage or cope with it.
equipped the youth and people with the abilities than just shielding them from such things without the abilities of coping, managing, critically thinking and drawing a hard line of what is right or not right, fantasy from reality.
......
avoiding, shielding or a sterilized environment is not a long term solutions
[22/4/2026 3:48 pm] LCL (Danny 心):
1. And I read that many Countries even Western Countries, ASEAN Countries are coining or contemplating banning or restraining social media for young children.
Young children refer to 16 or 18 ? years and below - where their cognitive development is still not mature - unable to fully ascertain what is right or wrong.
2. Professional child development, psychiatrist, psychologists, neuroscience experts views - I feel will be important to provide independent and professional assessment how young children of such ages will be affected - if consistently exposed to negative social media feed and contents.
3. I happen to chance upon an algoritmic video feeds of programme that interview young children - preschool ones and some older ones --- by asking them innocent questions about their parents and their families.
4. I was awed by their response, observation and how they process what they observe, experience and form mental judgement.
Indeed their cognitive abilites exceeded adult's assessment on such young children.
5. What these young children see in social media - how they copy and imitate them - can be astounding.
6. On hindsight, I feel that some restrictions on what these young children see - through controlled algorithmic feeds may be necessary.
7. Until they are older, 18 years and above, when their mental cognitive development has matured, then restrictions can be lifted - the same access like adult.
[22/4/2026 4:04 pm] REACH Singapore: 📢 Topic 📢
[22/4/2026 4:06 pm] LCL (Danny 心):
1. The internet, the AI like Chatgpt, the search engine are so wide and porous and definitely loopholes will be there.
2. No amount of firewall, proxy content or filter can totally blocked undesirable contents - definitely some will slip through.
3. But the 1st cut control of algoritmic feeds not to push vast amount of negative contents in social media to the children - will block off majority of children from access to the negative videos - will help.
4. Let us put this hypothesis to the adult.
Imagine our mainstream media are filled with negative contents eg. CNA, Channel 8, 5, U, etc broadcast porno, abusive, violence, echo chambers etc contents instead of news feed, family friendly dramas, educational contents ---- can we in the same breath say, don't control, we need to exercise critical thinking, filter out etc...
5. Human psychology and mental absorption - will definitely be influenced by what we see - and affect us mentally because we are affected by the 5 mental aggregates :-
a. 5 senses - eyes, sounds, taste, touch, smell.
b. Feelings - positive, negative, neutral
c. Perception - based on what we see, what we hear, what we experience - and form perception.
d. Judgement - and we develop judgement - could be positive, negative, right, wrong, rational, logic or irrational or illogical
e. Mental formation - how we see this world, how we react and respond
6. Imagine if we keep seeing negative things --- be it we are a very strong critical thinker - we will still be negatively influencced even as an adult - not to mention young children.
7. Ancient Wise Men say - see no evil, talk no evil, think no evil.
Imagine social media, mainstream media keep broadcasting - see evil, talk evil - influence you to think evil.....
[22/4/2026 4:13 pm] LCL (Danny 心):
Now let us further push the hypothesis to the now manifesting Geopolitical tensions and conflicts.
Even balance views powers like France, China, Malaysia, India, etc that often exercise critical thinking - can be swerved by fear of no fuel - and make unwholesome decisions - to negotiate to pay ransom money, pay tolls by breaking international laws - because when one do, the rest follow.
Until one tiny little red dot, with clear mind, stand out to say, we will not negotiate to pay toll, we will conform to international law.
Then suddenly the whole world wake up - and see the light of wisdom.
And be a lamp unto the world.
So who say - social media content that continuously broadcast negative videos and wrong thinkings have no impact on people?
Be it adults or children?
[22/4/2026 4:13 pm] LCL (Danny 心): [21/04, 2:28 pm] ☸️ Danny 心:
Standing up for freedom of navigation sends right message: UN | The Straits Times
“I want to highlight the position of the Government of Singapore, which was very loud and clear that it was not going to negotiate on those terms,” he said.
Singapore’s Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan said in early April that Singapore will not negotiate for safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz, as doing so would undermine the fundamental principles of international law.
https://share.google/4S7Kbwe0lW6XmzTvj
[21/04, 2:31 pm] ☸️ Danny 心:
Reflecting on the impact of the closure of Hormuz, he said the current crisis underscored the importance of keeping shipping free and safe.
“If we start transferring the cargoes that come from the Gulf region right now to other means of transportation, they will only be able to ship between 5 and 10 per cent of what shipping is transporting on a daily basis,” he said.
“We can find new ways of operating, we can find new routes. But we’re not going to be able to supply the demands of the global economy.”
[21/04, 2:41 pm] Close friend comments: Singapore might be heavily punished. Just like how 忠臣 get killed evil ones live
[21/04, 2:42 pm] ☸️ Danny 心:
I think as long as international bodies and other countries are on our side, rouge people like Trump and Iran will not anyhow move.
[21/04, 2:45 pm] Close friend comments:
I will also choose to be right.
[21/04, 2:45 pm] ☸️ Danny 心:
Yes.
Right is non negotiable.
Because it invite karma.
Good karma.
Bad deeds invite bad karma.
[21/04, 2:46 pm] Close friend comments:
Actually there's something which Vivian said or that's sg stand - if we agree to paying for the passage then someone may seize strait of Singapore which the narrowest is only 2 km wide and starting collecting toll...
[21/04, 2:51 pm] ☸️ Danny 心:
Yes.
It will open the Pandora box of turning people to become bad and make jungle law the defacto law.
Hence as we walk the Bodhisattva path in an era of dharma ending age - we must always be a lamp onto the globe of darkness to guide righteousness.
Else if good keep quiet, the bad will rear their heads and wrong become right.
WW3 will come very quickly because injustice fill the hearts of people - and violence will break out.
Calling out the conscience of people to do things right will have the reverse effects of keeping bad people from manifesting bad deeds.
[21/04, 2:52 pm] ☸️ Danny 心:
"Chinese President Xi Jinping calls for Strait of Hormuz to remain open.
Chinese President Xi Jinping made the remarks during a phone call on Monday (Apr 20) with Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, as Beijing steps up efforts to help end the Iran war."
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/east-asia/china-xi-jinping-calls-strait-hormuz-remain-open-iran-war-6068191#:~:text=Chinese%20President%20Xi%20Jinping%20calls,help%20end%20the%20Iran%20war.
[21/04, 2:53 pm] ☸️ Danny 心:
See invoking the conscience of people, power will come out to do the right things.
https://babe118.blogspot.com/2026/04/be-lamp-unto-globe-of-darkness.html
指路明灯 - Be a lamp unto the globe of darkness. 👈
[22/4/2026 4:15 pm] LCL (Danny 心):
This is my conversation with my close friend.
Putting out right views, positive thinkings does influence the world.
What we see in social media - do influence the world.
[22/4/2026 4:29 pm] LCL (Danny 心):
1. Humans have 5 deep inherent roots anchor on:-
a. Ignorance
b. Greed
c. Hatred, Anger
d. Arrogance
e. Distrust.
2. Imagine if social media and mainstream media are to run wild.
Keep emphasizing hatred that make people angry.
Keep broadcasting fake news.
Keep feeding the greeds of people.
Keep fueling distrust among people, community, society.
Keep saying he is King.
- the Dharma ending age.
Just look at the American society.
Does social media breed good, kindness, compassion, love, unity, harmony among their people in US?
Americans are deeply polarised, divided, hatred, distrust of institutions, huge demonstration, full of lies, fake news... all propagated by social media when mainstream media are hammer and discredited.
Until the walking monks appear.
