More than 40 per cent of 16-24-year-olds say seeing others social media posts trigger feelings of isolation

An unexpected demographic supports keeping young teens off social media — but it may not be for the reason you think.

More than half of young Australians support banning people under 16 from social media.

More than half of young Australians support banning people under 16 from social media, as new data reveals it is the biggest contributor to loneliness among youth.

A new survey has found 58 per cent of 16 to 24-years-olds, and 70 per cent of 25-34-year-olds support raising the minimum social media age to 16.

Medibank’s Loneliness Population Index found more than half of Australians – including 58 per cent of Victorians – feel lonely every week, and those who were under 34 say social media is a top factor.

An online survey of more than 4000 Australians aged 16 and over found, across the whole group, that family relationships, home environment and romantic relationships were the three biggest contributors to isolation.

But social media was the top answer for young people, selected by 55 per cent of lonely 16-24-years-old and 49 per cent of lonely 25-to-34-years-olds, compared to 36 per cent across all ages.

Lonely young people reported that seeing social media posts of other people at events and social outings triggered their feelings of isolation.

When asked for a specific trigger, more than half of lonely people said having few friends or growing apart from them, while more than 45 per cent blamed cost-of-living pressures.

But among 16-24-years-old who felt lonely, more than 40 per cent said seeing others social media posts triggered feelings of isolation.

It comes after the Albanese government vowed to enforce age limits on social media and News Corp’s Let Them Be Kids campaign.

The Medibank survey also found three out of four lonely people reported impacts to their personal health.

More than half of Victorians feel lonely every week, the Medibank survey found.

Medibank’s hub lead Andrew Retschko said loneliness was a healthy human emotion, but if it becomes chronic, it could have the same health impact “as smoking 15 cigarettes a day”.

“This is why we’re working to reduce loneliness across the community,” he said.

World Health Organisation consultant and Sydney University researcher Dr Daniel Surkalim said loneliness could increase our risk of premature death by 32 per cent, raising our chance of cardiovascular disease, diabetes and dementia.

Dr Surkalim, who features on Medibank’s We Are Lonely podcast, said there probably was a correlation between young adults’ higher social media use and increased isolation risk, but believed a focus on how we use platforms, as opposed to a ban, was needed.

“If you’re going on social media to doom scroll and go down these rabbit holes of comparing yourself to others … then that’s probably a sign for you to stop using social media in that capacity” he said.

Originally published as More than 40 per cent of 16-24-year-olds say seeing others social media posts trigger feelings of isolation