What do Australian teens think about a ban on their social media?

Bangkok Post Group

Australia’s federal government announced last month that it plans to ban younger teenagers from using social media — a move that would be a world-first if successfully rolled out. - REUTERS

Transcript

00:00Australia's federal government announced last month that it plans to ban younger teenagers

00:06from using social media in response to concerns about bullying, predatory grooming, and physical

00:11and mental health.

00:13If successfully rolled out, it would be the world's first age-based ban targeting internet

00:17platforms.

00:18However, the proposed ban has received backlash from many young Australians, like Ben Kiyoko,

00:23who say the ban would actually make life harder for them and isolate them further.

00:27Yeah, so being autistic, I have a really, really hard time connecting with others.

00:33And doing that online makes it a lot easier.

00:37Being online, you're able to connect with other people with the same interests, get

00:41experiences.

00:42Teens like Kiyoko represent what experts say is a blind spot in the plan by Australia's

00:47government to set an age minimum for social media websites, as an age block would mean

00:51cutting off support for teens in minority groups like the neurodivergent community.

00:57Surveys show that some 97 percent of Australian teenagers use social media across an average

01:02of four platforms.

01:04That makes them among the world's most connected young people.

01:07Sixteen-year-old Laura Seaton has mixed feelings about the proposed ban.

01:11Like you said before, the communication, people feel like they can be more confident on social

01:16media because you're behind a screen.

01:18But that also means that bullies can be confident.

01:22And that's not a good thing.

01:23They can just go, hey, you're ugly and not feel anything because it's a text, you know

01:27what I mean?

01:28Like, it's like you can just comment easily and be like, you're not very pretty, are you?

01:32You know, stuff like that.

01:34Nearly two-thirds of parents of teenagers in the country reported concerns about their

01:38children's social media use, according to a 2024 survey by Youth Service Reach Out.

01:44But Justine Humphrey, a senior lecturer in digital cultures at the University of Sydney,

01:49says a ban is not the best way to go.

01:52Young people themselves are not in favor of a ban.

01:56Humphrey says an age-based ban ignores other important factors that determine online experiences

02:01for young people.

02:02So even though the age is really fundamentally important that we need to get right, what

02:08we're talking about when we say we're going to introduce a ban by age is that it negates

02:13the fact that young people have very, very different levels of maturity depending on

02:17their age and their backgrounds, and also whether they occupy that younger or older

02:24teenage group.

02:26In September, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said his centre-left government would run

02:30an age verification trial before introducing the laws by the end of this year.

02:35While no lower age limit has been proposed, officials have suggested between 14 and 16.

Category

Transcript

Recommended