Government proposals to ban social media for those aged up to 16 could be rolled out by the end of the year, making Australia the first country in the world to do so. But is this move essential to protect young minds, or would it serve to heighten feelings of isolation? Catherine Lewis reports
Australia’s young people are clocking up seven hours a day on smartphones, with many spending more time Snapchatting or on social media sites such as TikTok and Instagram, than socialising with friends in real time, new research from Deloitte has found. So disturbed are parents at the social, emotional and physical impact that the siren song of socials is having on their children, that support for new age restrictions for such platforms is spiking.
Premier Chris Minns is buoyed up by the stand-out success of last year’s ban of mobile phones in high schools. The Department of Education recently reported that 95 per cent of NSW public principals rate the move, including Alison Gambino of Mona Vale’s Pittwater High, who has seen ‘improved learning, engagement and socialisiation.’ Premier Minns is now keen to tackle social media, with Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, confirming that his government will back restrictions across the country.
Over 75 per cent of young people told a University of Sydney survey that they regularly use YouTube or Instagram, with 70 per cent using TikTok or Snapchat. These are the top platforms on which a third of young people – 31 per cent – chat to people they have not met in person. Youth mental health provider Headspace has found that 70 per cent of mentally distressed children had experienced cyberbullying. With everything from porn to terrorist ideation sites and violent video games available a mere click away, politicians have realised more needs to be done to protect vulnerable young people.
“Where previous generations were building friendships in person, young people today are learning about life via screens,” Premier Minns told the recent Sydney Social Media Summit. “Kids who spend more than three hours per day on social media are twice as likely to experience poor mental health, including depression and anxiety.”
Outback Tom says social media allows young people to see another side of Australia
Enter Federal Government proposals to impose a minimum age – yet to be confirmed – to access such platforms, with the onus placed upon the sites themselves, rather than parents or young people, to enforce the limit. “The platforms have the capability to undertake this kind of enforcement, and the ultimate issue here is about incentivising the platforms to do better,” Federal Communications Minister, Michelle Rowland, said at the summit. Harsher penalties for sites that breach any legal obligations, post a 12-month implementation time-frame, are being floated, the minister confirmed.
The current ‘ticking of an age box’ to access R-rated material is a weak roadblock at best, wholly inept at keeping out inquiring, malleable minds that can be easily swayed if aggressive or degrading behaviours viewed online become normalised. Cyberbulling is heightened by the intoxicating power of anonymity and platforms such as Snapchat – on which messages are deleted once viewed – have become a playground for bullies, while insecurity and self-doubt swirls if gratification is not received in the form of ‘likes.’
The recent Sydney Social Media Summit in Sydney addressed the impact of social media on youth
Soaring hospitalisation rates for intentional self-harm – up 70 per cent in young women aged 15 to 19 between 2008-09 and 2021-22, are linked to this precarious sense of self-worth, the Australian Psychological Society says. Comparison syndrome abounds in the face of others shiny shots. “You spend a lot of time looking at all the happy snaps, which are often quite crafted or curated, and have a belief that your life is more impoverished than others. Whereas none of it may be real,” warns Australian Psychological Society chief executive, Zena Burgess.
Bilgola Plateau-based Laryssa, 15, tells Peninsula Living Pittwater that she feels a constant sense of FOMO – fear of missing out – if she does not have one eye on social media. She sleeps with her phone under her pillow, set to vibrate, for fear of falling out of the loop. “It’s the first thing my friends and I reach for when we wake up, and the last thing we put down at night,” she says. “I just really don’t want to miss anything.”
It is this all-encompassing obsession – which they witnessed in their own teenage daughter – that led Sydney couple Dany and Cynthia Elachi to found the non-profit Heads Up Alliance, a growing movement of Australian families concerned about the effects of social media and smartphones on children. “Lifting the minimum age for social media would mean we are at last putting the safety and wellbeing of our children above the financial interests of Big Tech,” Dany Elachi tells PL. “It would go a long way to restoring our children’s health, self-esteem and sleep. We have allowed Big Tech to steal childhood for an entire generation of kids, and it is high time we won it back.”
But is a blanket ban the right way to handle what is a communication lifeline for many? As Communications Minister Michelle Rowland, says: “Social media offers many benefits, particularly for young people who may be isolated for different reasons.” For those that are struggling to find their tribe, that homeschool, or are part of marginalised communities such as LGBQT+, live remotely or rely on socials for connecting with family and friends overseas, slamming the door on their connection point could be catastrophic. This author’s son Finn, 13, communicates regularly with family in New Zealand on Facebook Messenger and says he would feel ‘totally out of the loop’ if the off-switch was flipped. Social media sensation, ‘Outback Tom,’ says the platforms help to ‘create community’ amongst young people and ‘elevate stories from Australia’ to the masses. Masses indeed – his videos have a staggering one billion TikTok views. “It’s been amazing to see the reach and the impact our videos have had,” he says.
Premier Chris Minns says that more needs to be done to protect young people from online dangers
Premier Chris Minns wants restrictions placed on the use of social media by young people
Enforcing a blanket ban seems a tall order too, with concerns regarding privacy spiking, as platforms need to extract age information to implement restrictions, while parents also worry that platforms would simply sidestep regulations, or that a ban may make social media all the more enticing for young people. Instead, education could progress the fight against unsuitable content falling into inappropriate hands, rather than simply slamming the gates.
Helping young people to determine fact from fiction, friend from foe – and how to pick out drops of reliability in a shifting sea of disinformation, is key. “What young people need help with is managing their data and removing content quickly – that’s where parents and carers can really help,” says Jonathon Hutchinson, chair of discipline of media and communications at the University of Sydney. The new Spotlight on Cyberbullying website aims to provide this support to both parents and schools, offering ‘evidence-informed digital skills and knowledge,’ as many young people are cyberbullied outside of school hours. A $2.5 million research fund has also been launched to investigate the impacts of excessive screen time on young people.
There is little doubt that social media can be a lifeline, a powerful connector, a force for change; but the link between these platforms and the burgeoning youth mental health crisis cannot be ignored. Greater oversight is needed – and fast. We need to make social media work for our youth, make it the age-appropriate social setting you would allow your kids to attend in the real world, rather than the R-rated reality replacement it is becoming. As former Facebook staff member-turned advocate for social media transparency, Frances Haugen, said at the Sydney Summit: “We can have social media that brings out the best in us – but only if we fight for it.”
