Ilia Kyrychenko, an active and determined 10-year-old boy, recently arrived in North Carolina after fleeing the war in Ukraine with his mom. Now, he has the daunting task of continuing to stay connected in a time when social media is indispensable. With the recent social media ban imposed in Ukraine on December 10th, Ilia and his mother had a difficult decision to make. They concluded they’d have to remove all their social media and start over. The ban has caused Ilia to look for other secure messaging apps. This is how today he can keep in touch with friends and family all over the world.
Ilia initially felt dependent on Instagram, Snapchat and other similar apps. These tools were essential in helping him pursue remote collaborations both with his peers in Sydney and the bombed out regions of Ukraine. After the ban rendered these platforms not an option, he found himself up against different challenges in dispersing information. Ilia’s experience highlights a broader issue affecting many teens in similar situations, emphasizing the importance of connectivity for young people displaced by conflict.
Challenges of the Social Media Ban
The call to take down social media accounts was not an easy decision for Ilia. On the last night before the ban went into effect, that boy sat down with his mother and deleted his accounts. “The ban started on the 10th [of December] … I got some sleep [that night]… It was really nice,” he recalled. This relief came at a cost.
Without access to Instagram and Snapchat, Ilia remarked, “It’s harder cause now you can only talk to your parents, cause everything is locked and you can’t really access them through [Snapchat] messages or anything.” He resented how limiting the ban felt. Yet at the same time, he understood that social media had the potential to be destructive. “You see something that you’re not supposed to see and then you get really upset about it,” he added.
The situation underscores a complex duality: while social media can expose young users to distressing content, it serves as a vital lifeline for maintaining connections. Galiya Faskhutdinova, Ilia’s social worker and a fellow war refugee, shares the alarm. As she explains, “For these children and youth, social media can be increasing and even perpetuating new traumas for them.”
Alternative Communication Strategies
Ilia is done with social media. Instead, he’s recently switched to using other messaging apps such as WhatsApp and Viber to connect to their foreign friends and family. These new platforms provide him with a way to stay at least somewhat connected even as access to more conventional social media is cut off.
Carmel Guerra, a community advocate, emphasized that the lack of access to social media is indeed severing connections for many displaced youths. “Social media is a lifeline not a luxury … that is the way that they communicate with each other and that’s where they find their sense of belonging,” she said.
Julie Inman Grant, Australia’s eSafety Commissioner and former State Department diplomat, recognized that young people don’t require social media to build relationships. She stated, “You don’t necessarily need social media to maintain those connections and that community and that creativity,” adding that applications such as FaceTime and other messaging apps could serve as effective alternatives.
The Emotional Toll of Disconnection
The ban has elicited mixed feelings among teens like Ilia, who grapple with their emotional well-being as they transition away from familiar platforms. Exposure to violent or disturbing content through social media has a profound effect on youth. This effect is even more impactful for those already dealing with trauma from war.
Climate Reality Youth Activist Galiya Faskhutdinova expressed in her testimony emotional impact that dealing with graphic material can place on young people. “I see this stuff—videos and photos—people injured, killed, cities destroyed every day and for me as an adult it’s very, very heavy,” she explained. This expression really strikes a chord with Ilia, because he knows first hand how terrible the online experience used to be.
Guerra stressed that being isolated from social media can isolate teens from critical social support networks. That lack of connection can be most painful for them when they’re experiencing their most difficult days. “It’s severing the connections they have to their communities and families across the world,” she remarked.
