‘Hostile’: Health experts back social media ban for under 16s

A letter signed by 120 health experts, including paediatricians, psychiatrists, GPs, dietitians and social workers, is calling on the government to back a bill banning under 16s from social media.

A letter signed by 120 health experts is calling on the government to back a bill banning under 16s from social media.

Paediatricians, psychiatrists, GPs, psychologists, dietitians, social workers, mental health nurses, research and other specialists have signed it, along with leading national organisations.

One of the signatories, Dr Danielle Einstein, a clinical psychologist and adjunct fellow at Macquarie University, who has been examining the relationship between social media use and anxiety for many years, said it was “absolutely imperative that we take this step” and vote for the ban to protect kids.

“I have gone to the source of the evidence and I question whether there are any mental health benefits from social media in this age group,” Dr Einstein, co-author of Raising Anxiety, said. “Any minor benefits, if they exist, are massively outweighed by the downsides.”

Dr Einstein said social media has had a devastating impact on children over the past decade.

She said it had impacted their emotional and neural development and made schools a far more “hostile” environment.

She also rejected claims from critics that a ban would disadvantage marginalised children, hinder those seeking mental health support, or push others into darker spaces on the internet, saying the arguments are simply not valid.

Dr Danielle Einstein is a clinical psychologist and adjunct fellow at Macquarie University.

She said the evidence showed going on social media exacerbates mental health issues and isolation – and in some cases “glorifies it” – rather than helps.

“It’s not a healthy form of support for mental health,” she said.

“It can become a crutch where vulnerable people prefer to speak to ‘safe people’ online, and not build relationships offline.”

Dr Einstein said the bill was also not banning kids from Google or messaging apps and they would be much safer seeking support via the internet, rather than social media.

She also added that the addictive nature of social media was also disadvantaging children, who don’t know what it is like to be bored.

“One of my big concerns is actually the addictive element, the addictive use of technology and finding it really hard to develop good discipline,” Dr Einstein said.

She said she had first-hand experience of the impact of social media on her own children aged 20 and 22, and their friends.

Apart from family rows about usage there have been mental health struggles.

She said 65 per cent of her good friends had at least one of their children go through horrific experiences because of social media.

Dr Einstein said social media has had a devastating impact on children over the past decade. Picture: iStock

“I’ve been really alarmed by what’s happened with my friend’s children. Some have been through the most tragic experiences.

“Sometimes I think that you have to have had children who have gone through this unregulated environment to understand the impact.”

She said some of her friend’s children stopped going to school, or changed schools often, or were just unable to cope.

Some are entering their 20s, and have been on strong mental health medication and are still struggling.

“These are children with real potential and they have not thrived,” she said. “They’ve come through school with self-doubt, without real life friendships. And in many cases are still struggling.”

She said she had seen the same and worse in a professional capacity.

Dr Simon Wilksch said on behalf of the signatories on the letter that as well as raising the minimum age children can access social media to 16, he wants the government to fund the roll-out of evidence-based mental health prevention programs for kids, and increase training and supports for educators and parents.

“Together we cannot allow the current trajectory to continue,” he said. “Australia’s children, their parents and carers, families, and our health system need meaningful action on social media”.

The bill, which was set to go through this week, has become the subject of a last-minute email campaign launched by the Australian Taxpayers Alliance claiming the proposal, backed by both Labor and the Coalition, would pave the way for “intrusive age verification systems” and force people to hand over personal information.

X owner Elon Musk has also spoken out against the ban.

Originally published as ‘Hostile’: Health experts back social media ban for under 16s