A digital step in the right direction

This can only mean the Federal Government’s social media ban for teenagers under 16 appears to be working.

But perhaps, as predicted, all the young digital natives of Generation Alpha have already found alternative ways to access Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, YouTube, X, Snapchat and Reddit.

Or perhaps, and it is a big perhaps, young people are filling their lives with practising the piano or the perfect drop punt.

Perhaps they are text messaging, sending emails, making video calls, or actual phone calls, or God forbid — meeting up the street in a coffee shop for a real-time, face-to-face chat about something happening in their lives right now as opposed to something that happened to somebody else on the other side of the planet last week.

Whoever came up with the term social media deserves a FIFA award for the Most Ironic Marketing Label Ever.

Because whatever this sprawling web of distracting media is called, social is most definitely not the right label.

The platforms have no reason for existing other than to keep kids on the platform.

They don’t want kids meeting up and chatting about stuff, they want kids looking at their phones and pushing buttons.

Of course, we have to be careful about lumping all young teenagers together as hopeless phone addicts in need of government help.

There are plenty of young people who live happy, phone-free lives.

Equally, there are many teenagers who use mobile phones sensibly, fully aware of the dangers of sinking into the hole of phone addiction.

There are even some teenagers who welcome the new restrictions as a helpful way to manage their own behaviour.

And then there are teenagers who are isolated, either because they live in remote areas or they are disabled, or they belong to groups marginalised because of their sexuality or culture.

For them, social media is a lifeline to the larger world, and they need to be supported to find new ways of keeping in touch.

It’s a complicated world, but Australia’s attempt to curb the malignant influence of social media is a step in the right direction and is being watched closely by other countries.

Let’s remember, this is the first time any government has stood up to the global tech giants by restricting the freedoms of part of its own population, so it’s no surprise there are pushbacks from parents and teenagers and even a lawsuit against the Commonwealth for restricting political engagement.

This is new territory, and there will be arguments and mistakes made, but Australian lawmakers should be applauded for trying to protect young lives.

What is a surprise is that it has taken so long to stand up to the pernicious effects of social media.

Facebook was launched in 2004, smartphones arrived with the iPhone in 2007, algorithms between 2009 and 2011.

Fifteen years later we have a generation of young people dealing with a tidal wave of bullying, sexual grooming, gambling, misogyny, violence, eating disorders and suicide.

I hope this new law has a domino effect, and other parts of social media are more heavily policed for allowing hatred and lies to proliferate.

I salute Communications Minister Anika Wells for her speech to the National Press Club last week in which she eloquently said: “With one law, we can protect Generation Alpha from being sucked into purgatory by predatory algorithms described by the man who created the feature as ‘behavioural cocaine’.”

If you, or anyone you know, needs help after being excluded from social media platforms, you’ll find resources and advice at eSafety.gov.au