Self-harm rates like a new virus epidemic: Qld chief health officer John Gerrard

Premier Steven Miles will push to ban children under 14 from having social media accounts after a warning from chief health officer Dr John Gerrard.

• Top doc: Parents’ vital role

Premier Steven Miles will push to ban children under 14 from having social media accounts after a warning from chief health officer Dr John Gerrard.

Dr Gerrard has said a self-harm “epidemic” is killing young Queenslanders as unrestricted social media use creates a major new public health emergency.

The concerning link between the rise of social media and worsening mental health of young people has been exposed through a landmark investigation by Queensland Health.

It found the rate of girls aged 14 and under admitted to hospital for self-harm injury more than tripled between 2008-09 and 2020-21.

This rate almost doubled in the same period for males up to 14.

Dr Gerrard said it was his duty to inform Queenslanders about the concern unrestricted social media use in children had on their wellbeing.

“Globally, we are seeing a concerning deterioration in the mental health and wellbeing of young people – and we are taking action to combat this in many ways,” he said.

“The increase in self-harm events observed among young Australians since about 2008 looks just like a new virus epidemic.

“This period coincides with the introduction of smartphones and social media apps.”

Queensland chief health officer John Gerrard says: “The increase in self-harm events observed among young Australians since about 2008 looks just like a new virus epidemic.”

Chief health officer John Gerrard. Picture: John Gass

Mr Miles on Tuesday said he would work with the South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas had appointed former Chief Justice of the High Court Robert French to conduct a legal examination into banning children under the age of 14 from having social media accounts.

“Their government will share the outcomes of that examination with ours to better understand how we could implement such a ban in Queensland,” Mr Miles said.

“We are fostering a generation of young people who have grown up on social media.

“With the opportunities for connectivity, there must be balance and we must act now to prevent irreversible damage to the mental health of Queenslanders.”

Dr Gerrard’s stunning intervention comes as The Courier-Mail and sister publications expose how a generation of children is being lost to the billion-dollar social media giants. The Let Them Be Kids campaign calls on the federal government to raise the age limit to access social media to 16.

Dr Gerrard backed the call and said children under 14 were likely not equipped with the emotional maturity to deal with the complexity of social media.

“We believe there is growing evidence that the health and wellbeing of young Queenslanders is being harmed by unrestricted access to social media, and it requires a public health response,” he said.

Dr Gerrard said he had been floored by the data when first presented to him.

“I thought, no, this is a mistake, you’ve got something wrong with the data, you’ve made an error because it stood out so much against the other health indicators that we look at,” Dr Gerrard said.

“I regard myself as a fairly informed person, I wasn’t aware of the significance of this problem until the data was presented to me in my role as Chief Health Officer, and I suspect many parents aren’t aware of this significance as well.

“The community at large needs to get to engage in this and talk about this problem because we cannot pretend that it’s not here.

“The problem is real and it’s not going away,” he said.

Premier Steven Miles says it would take significant lobbying to get social media giants to listen to the concerns of parents and health agencies.

Mr Miles said it would take significant lobbying to get social media giants to listen to the concerns of parents and health agencies.

“I haven’t seen much evidence that these big multinational social media companies care at all what we think,” he said.

“It’s been some time now since I wrote to them about using their algorithms to address young people posting their crimes on social media for boasting purposes and we haven’t even heard back.

“I think it’s high time that the Australian government did more regulation, just as they regulate traditional media … and I certainly welcome the indications we’ve seen from the Australian Prime Minister (Anthony Albanese).”

Dr Gerrard has convened a group of experts to consider the mounting evidence about the link between social media and worsening mental health of young Queenslanders.

The group recommended parents limit access to social media for children under the age of 14, monitor children as social media is introduced and restricting time until healthy habits are established.

Queensland Health will on Tuesday also release a suite of tools and tips on how to minimise social media harm on young children.

While supportive of social media restrictions for children under 14 and parental monitoring of those aged 14 to 16, the Chief Health Officer on Tuesday said he was yet to form a position in regards to legislation.

“The best approach to tackling this problem is still not totally clear and there’s still significant debate among mental health experts.

“Given the intensity of the discussion that is occurring around the world, I feel strongly that it is likely that we will have greater consensus in the years to come.

“But it’s time to start a serious conversation about this problem now, because it is very real.”

Premier Stephen Miles sympathised with parent’s struggle to control their children’s social media use.

“I know how Kim and I have struggled at different times with our children’s use of social media, we certainly would have welcomed more guidance from people with access to the evidence about when and how social media should be introduced.

“I’ve been supportive of this call for social media to be age-restricted to those under 14 and to require parental approval for access between 14 and 16.

“These platforms are custom built to give a sense that there will be joy but without delivering any joy and I think we’ve all experienced how the systems are designed to encourage us to doom scroll.

“We don’t let our young people use pokies and I think they are designed to have a similar effect.”