How are you feeling about the social media restrictions in Australia for under 16s?

[Sophie_M]

Hey everyone

With the upcoming Australian social media restriction for under 16-year-olds coming up we want to know what this means for you and maybe even the young people in your life. This conversation is a place for all of us to share how we are feeling and what we think the challenges and benefits might be for you or the wonderful young people in our community. 

• Have you thought about how to stay connected with friends you’ve met online?

• Are you focused mostly on the positives, or the negatives?

• What do your parents think, and what could they do to support you?

Importantly the Beyond Blue Forums are not impacted by these restrictions, we're here for anyone under 16.

In short, from December 10 Social Media companies will need to ensure that only people over 16 actively engage with their platforms.

There is a lot of information out there which can make it tricky to know what to expect on when it comes into effect. To learn more we think these are a helpful place to start eSafety commissioner + Headspace FAQs.

We know this change will impact some more than others, QLife provide anonymous and free LGBTIQ+ support and 13YARN are here for all Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander people.

We want to hear your thoughts on how this might impact the mental health of under 16s in both a positive and negative way. 

The Beyond Blue Forums are a place for constructive and helpful conversation and the regular moderation rules apply which means we look forward to a kind and understanding discussion. 

Thank you for sharing your thoughts and feelings 

Sophie M

[Guest_57830677]

It makes no sense, and is going to backfire. They haven't given us an actual list of banned apps which means we just have to guess if we're gonna suddenly lose contact with everyone we know, every reason they've given us about why they're banning social media can be solved by actually teaching kids about grooming, cyberbullying, and internet safety. they also constantly go back on everything they were saying, first they said gaming and messaging apps wouldn't be deleted but now whatsapp and steam will be, its just pure crap. 
Get angry. send emails. fight. 

[Guest_47614500]

Okay but why can I have a job but I can’t log into YouTube? It won’t stop anyone 

[Guest_44114118]

Honestly, it’s kinda scary to think about. A lot of people my age (under 16) use social media not just for scrolling but for connection, like, friends who live far, fandoms, art mutuals, or just people who get you when no one at school does. Losing that feels isolating.

I get that the rule’s meant to protect us, and yeah, it might help with stuff like online pressure, hate, or comparing yourself to others — that part’s good. But it also cuts off the positive spaces where young people find support and identity, especially if home or school isn’t super understanding.

If this goes through, I think parents + adults could help by not judging or saying ‘just go outside,’ but by helping us find other safe ways to stay connected, like group chats on messaging apps, gaming, or forums like this one.

Mostly I’m feeling mixed, I see both the safety side and the freedom side. But I hope adults actually listen to how this affects us instead of deciding for us

[ava-starr]

hi sophie

i have mixed feelings about the ban...

firstly, a lot of people are negatively affected by social media, swept into the whirlpool of edited photos that make them feel bad about themselves, and as well as this bullying is a serious, and sadly common occurrence and people in the middle years especially copping it the worst.

however i do think that social media is mainly used to interact with our peers and friends, share memories and happy moments and connect, as well as schools across the nation implementing ways to stay safe and avoid negativity on social media (and de-stigmatising social media as all bad, because *most* of it is for fun and enjoyment). so, i don't really think it's all bad. we all have reasons to use social media but it's how we use it and why that really matters

i believe that if we implement strategies that help us manage social media effectively, whether it be "off and away all day" at school, knowing how to tell the difference between real and fake, images online, learning the smarts to deal with bullies, and not sharing private or confidential information online etc. etc, especially people under 16, social media is not bad to use and doesn't need to be banned. but there are a lot of people in the under 16 category, who have social media but do not know the above and this worries me because there's proof that we need a ban 😔

[ava-starr]

man i think you're missing the point here 😅 but trust me, im as miffed as you are

[ava-starr]

me too bro me too 😭

[idkmanbutimgay]

Behaviour online

Because the internet changes so quickly, when a child who cannot use social media finally reaches the age they wont have experience online, this can make them more susceptible to things than if they stayed online. They also probably won’t understand how the internet has changed over the time they’ve been off social media, this also means they may behave in ways that are not acceptable at that time, leading to harassment.

It’s just unfair

I thinks its unfair to those who can use social media safety to be banned, whilst I do know that unfair doesn’t matter, usually its generally  considered a better idea to use preventative measures instead of blocking people capable of doing something, instead of spending government money implementing it it would be smarter to invest in education and working on catching creeps on social media, it’s a  bigger catch all and has more benefits that just banning a large portion of people using it who are capable.

Solution

I offer 2 solutions, the one I mentioned above, where we take a more preventative approach, using the money to instead have more education on the danger of online, like grooming and bullying and how to fix it, I know we do that currently but some people don’t have immediate access to that it’s not taught in schools, this is where my second solution comes, in. I do agree that anyone under 13 probably shouldn’t be on social media especially everything that’s not YouTube (which I believe from experience is the safest) because most don’t have enough real world experience on how dangerous the world is. For people between the ages of 13 and 18 should warning on some thing triggering like self-harm or suicide and better policing for other age inappropriate more adult things. You should also make everyone who joins social media take some sort of test before hand to make sure they can safely navigate the internet. If you fail it leads you to websites where you can learn to be safe and what to do if someone’s bothering you. You have to wait 24 hours till you redo the test to let the information sink into your brain. This process would be required for anyone eligible to join social media (13+) because age does not dignify knowing about how social media works, this way everyone is safe.

[-annie-]

I'm 14 with an account for YouTube, Discord, and Facebook. I think this ban will cause many issues, but I can see where the government is coming from. There are some things that I think make sense about the ban, but also things that don't. (Note that this is my personal opinion as an "average" Australian, not everyone will agree or have the same experiences)

Age
I think this makes a lot of sense legally, since it is the age you can get a learner's permit, and more importantly, it lines up with the age of consent, meaning that people can actually consent to being sent things online. On the other hand, you can get a job from 13, and get a Medicare card from 15. I believe the age should be 13 or 15, but I understand why the government would increase it to 16.

Use of platforms
YouTube is the only platform I post on. For Facebook and discord, I have them for functional reasons. My theatre group shares times for rehearsals and shows on Facebook. This is information that I genuinely need to know, and while I have a good connection with my parents and can ask them what the group says, some people do not have that privilege. As for Discord, I use it for school projects. I prefer to use WhatsApp, but a lot of people don't have phones, so it's a good way to communicate without the professionalism of emails and without the DoE restrictions. Then again, the ban could make people shift towards other platforms that may be safer, for example, switching from talking about mental health on Instagram to talking about it here.

Accounts

The eSafety website states that accounts will either be deleted or deactivated when the ban comes. This is an issue for youth content creators. I am a small YouTuber with around 400 subscribers, and I post videos frequently. YouTube has implemented many protection policies and I think that it is one of the safest platforms. If my account is deleted, I will lose all those subscribers and videos, something that I've been working quite hard on. I know people will say "Why are you posting? You're too young". I make videos to help others and to improve my art. But, even if it gets deleted, it's not the end of the world.

Government claims + research
The government has reasons for the ban, but honestly, I don't think they affect many people. They said that social media can make you feel stressed about keeping up with posts, get less sleep, make it harder to concentrate, make you compare yourself to others, and show negative, upsetting, or manipulating content. From my experience, I don't think I've ever felt pressured to keep up with posts, except with occasional memes that people reference at school. I don't use my phone before bed or while studying, I don't compare myself to others often, and even then, I do it more in real life than online. With manipulating content, you can just block or report. People can still be exposed to these things in real life, too. In the eSafety's published research, they said that roughly 40% of parents and the general public strongly agreed with the law. Notice how they didn't include the statistic for children in the research findings? The average age of Australian politicians is around 51, which means it's been decades since they were our age, and did not grow up with social media. 

Loopholes and exclusion
When I was around 10, people asked for my Snapchat and sent me TikToks. That can make you feel excluded just for following rules. If they were finding loopholes at that age, who knows what's going to happen now? In the research findings, 30% of children said they would try to avoid the law, and 48% of children do not feel that they can follow the law well. Even with face scanning and ID, people will find ways. Plus, some people (over 16) may not want to verify because of data breaches and hackers. With the list of banned platforms being quite unclear, people will most likely find alternatives, like how many Americans switched to Rednote when TikTok got banned.

Education
While other schools may be different, at my school, we get a presentation each year by a professional, as well as lessons about it in advocacy (form) and emails when there are concerns. Even in primary school, I remember being taught not to use my face or name online. If people don't know how to stay safe online by 13, who's to say they'll be more responsible once they're 16?

TLDR: I feel that the government is underestimating children, and the ban will not have the effect they want.

Thank you for reading, I know it's quite long, just wanted to share my opinion.
-Annie

[Sophie_M]

 
Hey everyone, thank you for joining in and sharing how this is impacting you.

It sounds like this is something everyone here feels strongly about, and with good reason.
It’s clear that while there are valid efforts to protect people from harm, those same efforts can also take away a lot of positive spaces online. It also sounds like some of the things you’re hearing, like the “just go outside” comments, can feel super dismissive. As you said, Annie, it must feel like young people are being seriously underestimated and not listened to at all. 

Are you having these conversations at school or with your parents, or does it feel like you’re managing this mostly on your own? That’s a lot to carry.

We’re here to chat whenever you need 💙
Sophie M