Push to raise the minimum age of social media use heard in NSW parliament

Thousands of signatures supporting a push to change the minimum age of social media use has reached the NSW parliament.

Social media is “deprogramming” the childhoods of Australians, says a NSW MP as a petition to raise the age of social media use is presented to the state parliament.

Opposition Health Minister Kellie Sloane and NSW Opposition Leader Mark Speakman called on the state government to work with the federal government to raise the minimum age of social media use.

On Wednesday evening founders of the “36 months” petition, Michael ‘Wippa’ Wipfli and Rob Galluzzo met with NSW Legislative Assembly Speaker Greg Piper, Mr Speakman and Ms Sloane to present their petition to the NSW parliament.

The campaign has gained 114,000 signatures supporting the change of the minimum age of social media use from 13 to 16.

Michael ‘Wippa; Wipfli and Rob Galluzzo attended the NSW state parliament on Wednesday. Picture: NewsWire / Nikki Short

Radio presenter ‘Wippa’ and film production company founder Mr Galluzzo founded the petition to give Australian children an extra “36 months” to develop healthy and secure identities before they are exposed to social media.

Mr Speakman said he was calling on the NSW government to recognise the correlation between the declining mental health of children and increased social media use.

“This campaign comes from the common sense that young teenagers are better off with three more years to mature and to develop their online identities … so that they’re very quick to handle the challenges of social media when they eventually do sign up,” he said.

“Our kids deserve the best start in life, and by supporting this campaign, we can help create a healthier, happier future for the next generation.”

NSW Liberal leader Mark Speakman labelled social media a “double edged sword”. Picture: NewsWire / Nikki Short

While Mr Speakman noted the benefits of social media, he described it as a “double edged sword”.

“In some cases, it’s outright replaced many of the face-to-face interactions we used to take for granted, and in others, it’s turned personal experiences into commodities. This value is determined by others, likes and reactions,” he said.

“At its worst, we hear horrific stories of cyber-bullying, harassment and posts promoting self harm, among other things, that young people have experienced.”

Ms Sloane commended the 36 Month campaign, which is pioneering change for a generation of children “whose childhoods have been up-ended”.

She said the issue at hand is one of the “most important issues of our time”.

Ms Sloane said social media use is one of the most important issues of our time.

“We are witnessing a deprogramming of childhoods, play-based development, critical play-based development being eroded to a large extent by phone based activity, an alarming increase in anxiety and depression with young people that has taken place with the uptick of mobile phones,” she said.

But Member for Heathcote Maryanne Stuart labelled the oppositions decision to bring the issue to parliament as “nothing short of hypocrisy”.

“Let me remind you that the Liberals and Nationals opposed our ban on mobile phones in public schools,” she said.

“The former minister Sarah Mitchell received a petition of 25,000 signatures calling for it (and) the government of the day, back then, refused to implement the plan.”

The comments were met with audible disagreement, with two members of parliament subsequently ejected after they voiced their objections to her comments reiterating that the Minns government was “already getting on with protecting our young people”.

The Speaker later clarified they were removed from the debate in order to set a particular tone for the discussion.

The motion was passed on the voices.

Seventy other guests were also attended the public hearing debate, including Butterfly foundation chief executive officer Dr Jim Hungerford, School principals from prestigious NSW schools, Scots College and Cranbrook, as well as representatives from Lego and Telstra.