What’s become overwhelmingly clear is that the status quo is untenable. We don’t need another devastated parent describing a child lost to suicide or a fentanyl-laced pill sourced online.
Roughly half of American teens say social media has a “mostly negative effect” on people their age. A UK survey found 37 per cent of teen girls have received an unwanted sexual pictures or video online. More than 60 per cent of Australian children who had experienced online grooming said their most recent experience happened on social media. Whistleblowers over the years have alleged tech platforms understand the risks but tolerate them anyway.
Big Tech companies have spent years insisting that the connection between social media and mental health harm is unproven. But these firms have simultaneously pushed back against efforts from outside researchers to truly study and examine how their algorithms keep young users endlessly engaged, and how they impact developing minds. They can’t have it both ways.
One of the strongest criticisms of Australia’s new rules is that it will sever lifelines for marginalised groups who rely on these platforms for community. It’s hard to overstate, or for caregivers to really understand, how intertwined social media has become in the daily lives of a generation who grew up on it – and watched their parents become just as addicted to their smartphones as them.
This is the same cohort that had swaths of their schooling disrupted by the pandemic, pushing all of us further into virtual worlds. When cutting off social media for rural, Indigenous or LGBTQ youth, authorities and guardians must make sure they are offering alternative outlets.
There are also some questionable loopholes. Kids can still watch YouTube anonymously (the most popular platform, per the local broadcaster ABC’s survey), without the guardrails that come with teen accounts. The No 2 youth digital venue, Roblox, is exempt because it frames online socialising as gaming. And of course, many tech-savvy kids are very likely to find ways around the rules.