Australia’s world-first social media ban for under-16s will begin in just a few days. Malaysia, Denmark and Norway are to follow suit and the European Union last week passed a resolution to adopt similar restrictions. As the world watches on, millions of Australian adolescents and their parents are wondering just what will actually change come 10 December.
Concerns around the negative impact social media use can have on the wellbeing of young people have been around since the quaint days of Myspace – long before those to be affected by the ban were even born.
Supporters of the social media “delay” policy believe that restricting under-16s access will reduce mental health risks, exposure to harmful content and the social malaise associated with being chronically online. Those opposed worry that the legislation is ill-conceived, will push children into murkier corners of the web, impinge on their human rights, exacerbate some mental health conditions or simply prove futile.
As the world waits to see just how this grand experiment will play out, the Guardian spoke to teenagers about their feelings as the ban approaches. All five are on the youth advisory board of the Australian Theatre for Young People, which will next month host a production of The Censor, which canvasses issues of teen social media use, literacy and adult censorship of their lives.
From indifference to frustration or simply being confounded by the choices being made by the adults in the room, the perennial teen question remains: “What’s the big deal?”
‘It feels deeply unfair the government is punishing an entire age group ’
Sarai Ades, 14
I’ve been using Snapchat, Facebook Messenger as well as Instagram and TikTok since I got a phone in 2023.
I find the “delay” very frustrating because it targets young people instead of addressing the issues at the root of online harms; things like algorithmic amplification of bigotry, the spread of misinformation and the lack of accountability for the companies and creators who profit from harmful or discriminatory content.
Teens are not the primary drivers of harmful content. Much of it comes from high-influence adult creators, political commentators and extremist groups, and it feels deeply unfair that the government is punishing an entire age group by removing access rather than regulating platforms.
I think media literacy is very important, especially for our generation. We need to be taught the right methods to deal with the online world in ways that don’t become harmful – and that includes the bigotry that is often disguised as “opinions” on social media. Eliminating [access] without doing anything about building our media literacy is the equivalent of the government banning books until we are 16 and expecting us to magically start reading critically.
Right now, media literacy doesn’t figure highly in our syllabus, but it should. It’s taught in a very boring way and it isn’t up to date; we might learn about cyberbullying but not echo chambers, for example. And with the rise of AI, there is a whole new world to understand that could harm us, but we aren’t taught anything about that. I think the government could definitely be focusing its efforts there and on specific aspects of social media, rather than just establishing a whole ban.
Having less exposure to this kind of harmful content might be good for our mental health in some ways, but I think the negatives outweigh the positives.
I grew up on another continent and social media is a primary way that I feel connected with these childhood friends. Australia promotes itself as a multicultural, globally connected country, but this ban will cut teens off from their cultural communities and international friendships. And for multicultural teens that loss is significant, especially living in an Anglo-dominant country like Australia.
My generation uses social media as a tool for identity formation; we explore other cultures, our creative expression, neurodivergence, gender identity, political beliefs. Removing social media removes a major avenue for self-discovery and belonging.
My daily screen time average on socials is about two hours, shared between Pinterest, Instagram and TikTok equally. Developing a healthy relationship with your screen time has become quite trendy. Me and most of my friends already use apps that help us manage our time online, we all use “do not disturb” and only check our phones when we have time.
Whatever time I do gain will be used to invest in my goals, but the irony is that I probably wouldn’t have half those goals without social media. The ban doesn’t just take away an app, it takes away inspiration and opportunities. For kids like myself in the performing arts, taking away our ability to share our skills online also limits our exposure and could put us behind on the world stage.
Even if they aren’t trying to develop a presence though, the ban will drive teens to less savoury corners of the internet – shady apps, private browsers or unsafe websites, instead of regulated platforms. Cutting off access to socials won’t eliminate the need for online connection, it will just drive it underground.
‘I don’t think I’ll be affected that much’
Pia Monte, 13
I only have accounts on WhatsApp and Pinterest so I won’t be directly affected by the social media ban, but I still don’t like it. I know people whose main support networks are on social media, so if that’s being taken away they will be left with nothing. I’ve had a really positive experience on the social media I use, so I don’t see why it should be banned for everyone.
I don’t keep my phone in my room overnight, I just check it quickly in the morning for notifications, but I don’t really use it before school. I use it mostly to take a break from study, my daily screentime average this week was 49 minutes.
I mostly use social media to look at cooking videos on YouTube or Pinterest; I can still use YouTube for that without an account and Pinterest isn’t being banned. Neither is WhatsApp and that’s what I use mostly to keep up with friends – I don’t know that many people my age who spend lots of time on the apps that are being banned anyway – so I don’t think I’ll be affected that much. I might get accounts for things like Instagram when I’m older, but there’s no rush.
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‘I don’t think two years is a long time to wait to use it again’
Grace Guo, 14
I’m quite indifferent to the ban, it won’t affect me that much because I mostly use messages and WhatsApp to chat with friends. I do post on YouTube sometimes, but I won’t care if I can’t. Sometimes the comments aren’t very nice so I won’t miss those. And anyway, you can still access the content without an account. When I’m using YouTube to research new skills or school work, sometimes irrelevant or inappropriate things come up, but that doesn’t change if you have an account or not.
I’ve only been using Instagram since the start of this year, it’s just another way to communicate with friends and I don’t think two years is a long time to wait to use it again. It’s not a big deal to me, I’ll just use other messaging apps more.
I only looked at my phone to check the time this morning. I first checked it for messages after school on my way home on the train. My screen time average is about an hour or two a day; most of that is chatting with friends across all the apps. I feel like our generation is quite dependent on it and I have friends who use their phones lots more than me.
Overall, for kids my age, I think things will be pretty much the same – they will get around it if they want, use the banned apps without accounts or just wait. Maybe for younger kids the ban will delay some harmful experiences. But also it might be a lot to deal with at 16 if you haven’t been exposed before.
Ewan Buchanan-Constable, 15
I’m a bit disappointed with the ban because I was introduced to a lot of my current creative interests through YouTube. At the moment I only use YouTube and Discord. I have a couple of videos up, but it’s not a regular thing. I use Discord to talk to friends and to engage with communities, mostly about movies and video games. Most of my friends use the apps that are being banned but I don’t feel excluded because the content that’s on there doesn’t really interest me.
I use my phone as an alarm but I don’t start using it in bed. Once I’ve eaten and showered I might put something on YouTube in the background while I get ready, but it’s not my main focus. My daily average is about two hours a day. On the weekends though, my screen time goes up to more like five hours because I often have podcasts, music or videos playing on YouTube while I study or do chores.
Adults are viewing social media as something that hijacks our whole life, but really it’s just something we use in downtime and it doesn’t stop us from reaching out to each other and arranging to leave the house and hang out or anything like that. I also read, write and draw a lot. I play Dungeons and Dragons and video games.
The way I look at it is that the goals the government has about mental health and limiting the harm of inappropriate content could be achieved through regulation and education rather than a ban.
Making that education start earlier would be important, being able to navigate online spaces safely is something kids need to know about much younger now. And I think it might be dangerous to forget that and just let them loose at 16. They’re going to encounter lots of weird stuff online before then anyway, so they should be taught about it earlier.
I’m not sure if I will ever start using social media, unless it’s for my career. I want to be an actor so for me it would be a professional tool rather than a source of entertainment.
Emma Williamson, 15
I turn 16 in February, so it will just be the holidays without Instagram for me really. I opened my account a couple of years ago and then I changed schools so it has been a good way to stay in touch with those people I don’t see every day any more.
I think everyone will miss the socialising part. But it’s also a relief to not have to do that on a platform designed to lure you in and waste your time, no one is going to miss scrolling. I get bored of watching reels quickly anyway, and AI slop is the worst, it takes so long to keep blocking that content and more keeps coming. I only want to see real content about my interests, like old audition videos of actors.
My daily average for Instagram is about half an hour. I use an app called Fitlock that gives me access to certain apps I choose based on how many steps I do. It’s easy to turn off, but I try to stick to what I’ve earned. And funnily enough, most of what I’ve learned about how and why to keep social media use down has been from the apps themselves. There’s lots of content from people a bit older than me encouraging people to get off their phones and go and live their lives in the real world.
My friends and I have group chats on Instagram but also on WhatsApp, so we will just spend more time there. Saying that, I find that Instagram content can be a fun conversation starter, so maybe we won’t chat as much without that to share.
At school they teach about cyberbullying and harmful content but never about how to use the apps in healthy ways. I think the government could spend their money better on educating rather than restricting. Right now though what they teach us is really boring, they’d need to work on that.
