Little Audrey makes case for skipping, not scrolling
For nearly ninety years, a stunning animated neon sign depicting a little girl jumping has been brightening Melbourne evenings.
Little Audrey, as we affectionately know her, has now temporarily faded into darkness, replaced by a girl hunched over and glued to a bright screen.
Team Kids and Dairy Farmers’ “sliding girl” campaign aims to highlight the consequences of having a childhood filled with screens rather than one dominated by gaming.
“This has led to much less physical activity outside the home, with dire consequences for children’s physical and psychological development,” said child and adolescent psychologist Michael Carr-Gregg.
The after-hours care provider and dairy brand’s ‘slide girl’ campaign will include a term-long jumping challenge across 270 schools.
Despite Australia’s global social media ban, young people spend nearly three hours a day on small screens.
This is three times the time spent playing sports or other physical activities, as shown in a YouGov survey of more than 1,000 parents conducted to coincide with the active kids campaign.
Almost two-thirds of parents feared their child’s device use was negatively impacting their sleep, physical activity, mood and other indicators of well-being.
The federal government recommends no more than two hours of screen time and at least one hour of physical activity per day.
More than 70 percent of children were getting less exercise than recommended.
Australia’s social media ban on people under 16 begins in December 2025.
While there has been an overall decline in young people’s accounts, the eSafety Commission’s compliance report found that nearly seven in 10 children still have an account on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat or TikTok.
About half still had an account on YouTube.
Several sites are under investigation for possible violations of the law.
A separate survey by education technology provider Year13 shows that although there are numerous workarounds to the social media ban, most young people support the ban rather than oppose it.
Australia’s Associated Press is the beating heart of Australian news. AAP is Australia’s only independent national news channel and has been providing accurate, reliable and fast-paced news content to the media industry, government and corporate sector for 85 years. We inform Australia.
