Social media ban’s cultural shift could take generation
Anthony Albanese hopes his social media ban on young people will spark a cultural shift for Australians, but an expert believes it could take a generation for that to happen.
Australia has become the first country to impose age restrictions on social media, requiring 10 platforms including YouTube, TikTok, Snapchat and Instagram to block anyone under 16 from having an account.
The Prime Minister said Australia could now “take back control” from social media companies and the reform would make a huge difference to young people’s lives.
Rachael Sharman, a senior lecturer in psychology at the University of the Sunshine Coast, said she was “hugely supportive” of the ban but said it would be difficult to measure its success.
“We know that taking young people away from screens and putting them in a camp improves their social skills and emotional recognition skills within a week,” Dr Sharman said.
“But let’s be honest, parents aren’t going to take their kids to nature camp. It’s going to be a process.”
Dr Sharman said he expected under-16s to become less reliant on social media within three years, but said it could take a generation for cultural change to occur.
“Children who are nature’s babies will begin to outnumber children who cling to their practices for survival, but this will not happen overnight,” he said.
“I’m old enough to remember the smoking bans and it probably took 10 to 20 years to change attitudes. It was a lot longer than people expected.
“I think it will take a generation or two.”
Lisa Given, professor of information science at RMIT University, heard from young people who had bypassed age assurance checks, including a 13-year-old who was identified as 34.
“If success looks like getting us to talk about these issues and identify a problem, then I think that’s been successful,” Professor Given said.
“If parents are looking for this as a magic solution to help them cope with the harm their children are facing, this is not the solution they were hoping for.”
A young man who spoke to AAP said that he was kicked out of Meta-owned platforms but still had access to Snapchat.
But 13-year-old Ballarat girl Pippa Martin’s attempts to wear extra make-up to look older failed to bypass Snapchat’s facial verification.
“I put on some make-up and put it around my wrinkle lines to make myself look really old,” she told AAP.
Despite young people finding workarounds, Mr Albanese praised the ban as already successful as parents and children debate the effects of social media.
Platforms must take “reasonable steps” to prevent the age group from accessing their accounts and creating new accounts, or face fines of up to $49.5 million.
The companies said they would use a range of methods to verify a user’s age, including AI facial scans, sophisticated analysis of people’s sharing patterns and digital IDs.
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