Under-16 social media account ban set to transform young Australians’ tech lives | Samantha Maiden
There was no referendum, no debate and from December 10, young Australians’ tech lives will change dramatically, writes Samantha Maiden.
Australia embarked on a grand experiment some years ago – unfettered access to pornography, social media and online violence for kids.
There was no referendum, no debate, just the unheralded march of progress of a dubious kind.
Babies grabbing excitedly at mummy’s iPhone, toddlers glued to iPads.
Couples went out to dinner and stared not at each other but their phones.
And some little boys in primary school mimicked sex acts in the playground.
It would be wrong to suggest literacy results are declining as a result. NAPLAN results are broadly stable.
But there does seem to be evidence that the proliferation of iPads, tablets, MacBooks and BYO devices in private schools – and Chromebooks in public schools – isn’t always working.
One in three children are not proficient in numeracy or literacy, according to NAPLAN results, leaving Australia “well behind” international peers.
The results reveal stark discrepancies between boys and girls, with males struggling in literacy across every age group.
Teenagers are downloading Fortnite and Snapchat on school computers, or even watching porn in class, prompting some schools to rethink the use of technology.
It’s one of the reasons, along with a grassroots campaign by parents and News Corp’s Let Them Be Kids, that the Albanese government is embarking on another experiment.
“Australia will become the first country in the world to ban under-16s from having social media accounts,” Communications Minister Anika Wells said this week.
“With one law, we can protect Generation Alpha from being sucked into purgatory by the predatory algorithms invented by the man who created the feature as behavioural cocaine.
“Kids can learn an instrument, or a language, or walk the dog, or master a torpedo punt or the perfect lob pass.”
It’s fair to say that plenty of kids will find a way around the new rules. They won’t all be walking the dog or learning an instrument.
Does it matter? And how do we gauge the success of the new laws if not everyone plays by the rules?
As a parent, the laws are as much about starting a conversation and a national debate as they are about strict adherence.
“I won’t prosecute the harm that social media apps do to young brains. I’m going to do that a kilometre away from here, in the High Court,” Ms Wells told the National Press Club.
“But what I will say is this isn’t the first time the harms of social media have been laid bare.
“The evidence gathered in journal articles and disclosure documents is spreading like wildfire, belling the cat on the strategies of social media giants. Around the world we’re seeing governments, whistleblowers and ordinary citizens fight back.
“Reports allege Meta aggressively pursued young users, even as its internal research suggested its social media products could be dangerous to kids.
“Reports allege Snapchat executives admitted that people who have an addiction don’t have room for anyone else.
“Reports allege YouTube employees acknowledged that driving more frequent daily usage was not well aligned with efforts to improve digital wellbeing.
“Reports allege an internal TikTok document recognised that minors don’t have the executive mental function to control their screen time.”
Most parents of teenagers have seen it unfold in real time. If you’ve ever thought giving a Year 7 kid a second-hand iPhone was a good idea – and regrettably I have – the Snapchat phenomenon was a shock.
Naturally we said ‘no Snapchat’. Mysteriously, it turned up on the phone anyway. The parenting mistakes piled up quickly.
What was a shock was how many kids had unfettered access to phones. Even if it was taken away overnight, Snapchat pinged from midnight to 6am.
So, how does the government plan to identify younger users?
“If you have been DMing 14-year-old friends about Stranger Things (and) you barely open the app during school hours – you’ll be identified as probably under the age of 16,” Ms Wells said.
“Yes, there will still be kids with accounts on 10 December, and probably for some time after that. Not only because kids are clever and inherently seek to circumvent systems, but because this law is a world first.
“However, if a child has a social media account on 10 December, then that platform is breaking the law. Most parents, carers and teachers I talk to do not expect perfection.
“But what they do say to me is: Thank you for trying, and do not back down. Increasing the minimum age to have a social media account is not a cure. But it is a treatment plan.
“Teenage addiction was not a bug – it was a design feature. And on 10 December, there are going to be withdrawal symptoms.”
Snapchat said last week that from December 10, all users believed to be under 16 will need to verify their age via a bank using ConnectID, government-issued photo ID or a selfie.
The selfie will be checked using facial age-estimation technology.
Will it work? It’s fair to assume there will be significant hurdles.
But that doesn’t mean that changing the way young Australians interact with technology isn’t worth pursuing.
If this new experiment allows some kids to enjoy the thrills and spills of real life, rather than a screen for a little longer, it can only be a good thing.
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Originally published as Under-16 social media account ban set to transform young Australians’ tech lives | Samantha Maiden
