Parents celebrate restricting children’s access to a habit akin to ‘kiddie cocaine’

As a Generation X father, Michael Murray is happy a government is proposing laws that “are on our side” in many parents’ fight to keep their children safe from the harmful effects of social media.

Age requirements keeping young people off apps are very welcome for parents such as Murray, who finished school before the communication revolution began.

Michael Murray and his daughter, 13-year-old Zoe.Credit: Jason South

Many in his demographic say they struggle to contain the influence of social media, the heavy use of which has been linked in research to poor mental health among young people.

“We’ve dealt with so many little spot fires that have popped up here and there [through behaviour on social apps], so when I hear of a law that at the bare minimum limits social media use, it’s fantastic,” Murray says.

“My daughter, Zoe, may have a different view.”

He is right.

Zoe, 13, believes being able to talk to friends on apps such as Snapchat and TikTok makes social media a positive addition to young people’s lives.

“I mostly use it to message my friends,” she says. “Mainly since the start of COVID, we didn’t really have the option to meet one another, so it mainly started then.

“I feel like it’s pretty cool because I can see what people are up to.”

However, Zoe is aware of a downside: it is easy to get bullied on social media. But parents on platforms used by older generations, such as Facebook and Instagram, may not understand how young people use newer apps, she says.

Bianca Mamo was also celebrating Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s vow to ban children from social media.

“These [Instagram] Reels children get stuck on are like poker machines, they are a massive problem,” says Mamo, as she drives her 13-year-old daughter, Starr, home from school.

“I have to literally boot my children off social media, and if it’s not listened to at the first or second request, by the time I get to the third, it’s quite heightened.”

Mamo considers herself among stricter parents. She recalls reading a study dubbing social media platforms “kiddie cocaine”, a term she agrees with.

‘It changes the attitude and the personality of your child like you could not imagine.’

Bianca Mamo, on the effects of social media on her children

Her 12-year-old son finds it particularly difficult to exit when watching Reels – short videos – and “would spend his life on a Reel if I allowed it … we have quite a regulated household and I still struggle”.

Mamo has observed signs of agitation in her son after a long session watching Reels, and she worries about the isolating effect so much screen time has on children.

“Some parents allow kids to be on it for five or six hours at a time. I’ve watched my son come off a session and his eyes twitch – it’s literally insane,” she says.

“If you get parents sitting down together, everyone will say, ‘It changes the attitude and the personality of your child like you could not imagine’.”

Starr, who is in year 8, says she mainly uses social media as a way to learn new skills, such as how to do heatless hair curling or how to embroider.

“I think it’s good because you have everything at your fingertips, and you can access anything that you need,” she says.

“There are a lot of fake things on there, things that just aren’t relevant. There are a lot of people who think things are happening when it’s just fake.”

Zsofi Paterson, chief executive of Tinybeans, a private, family oriented photo-sharing app, says enforcing age restrictions will help delay children’s exposure to “the often harmful effects of social media, such as cyberbullying, privacy invasions and the pressure of comparison”.

“What’s at stake is the mental and emotional wellbeing of an entire generation. Studies consistently show the negative impacts that early and unchecked exposure to social media can have on children, from cyberbullying to anxiety and depression,” she says.

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