The political angst over kids on social media has gone next level with this idea David Seymour is pushing today.

He’s saying that, instead of banning kids under-16 from social media, we could just ban them from having smartphones.

Quite rightly, he thinks it would be too easy for kids to get around a social media ban, that the likes of National are in favour of.

And I couldn’t agree with him more on that.

But banning kids from having a smartphone? Dream on!

At least with the social media ban idea, it sounds good on paper. And only on paper.

But trying to ban kids from having a smartphone doesn’t even sound good on paper.

I’m not sure what David Seymour is trying to do here. If he just doesn’t support a social media ban, leave it at that.

Because we know already that it isn’t working in Australia.

In just the past week, we’ve found out that over there it’s failed at the first hurdle.

Because the social media companies aren’t even complying with the requirement to check the ages of new users.

As I’ve said all along, we should - at the very least - be waiting for this experiment in Australia to show some positive results before we start going down the same track.

But it won’t work. The early results show that. And we shouldn’t be thinking it would work any better here.

Because the horse has already bolted. And the horse is going to keep on bolting. Because that’s what happens in the online world and the technology world.

Kids under 16 wouldn’t just use virtual private networks to access their social media accounts. There’d be some kids who would create their own social media platforms. That’s how it is.

And don’t just listen to me. Listen to experts from Queensland University who say banning under-16s from social media is a pipedream.

They say there is insufficient evidence to show social media is responsible for the increase in youth mental health problems. They say some marginalised young people actually benefit from social media. Example: I remember hearing someone who works with young members of the Rainbow community saying that social media can be really valuable for the kids he works with.

These researchers in Australia also say there is a lack of clarity as to what social media actually is. For example, are all those WhatsApp groups you’re part of, are they social media?

David Seymour needs to forget about this idea of the government coming in and telling kids they’re not allowed to have a smartphone. Because, just like the kids using VPNs to access social media if they were banned from using it in New Zealand, they’d also get around a smartphone ban. Because it wouldn’t stop them using their laptops and tablets.

So it’s a weird idea David Seymour is floating today. The fact that it’s coming from someone who is all for personal freedoms and liberties, makes it even weirder.

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