Since Australia’s social media ban for under-16s began eight weeks ago, more than 235,000 people in the United Kingdom have written to their MPs calling for a similar ban, and last month the House of Lords backed such a move. Malaysia plans to implement a proposed ban by July and, in France, president Emmanuel Macron has declared the brains of the country’s children “are not for sale”, calling for legislation to be fast-tracked to ensure a ban for under-15s is in effect by the start of the school year this September. Spain, Italy, Greece and Germany are also considering restrictions on social media use. Australia’s bold initiative is being closely observed.
While optimistic about the policy’s capacity to reduce some harms in the short term, the Australian government has been clear that no one should expect it to be a magic bullet or an overnight success. As the first report from the e-Safety Commissioner was released last month, stating that 4.7 million accounts have been flagged and deactivated across the affected platforms, commissioner Julie Inman Grant was quick to remind sceptics the policy is about “resetting cultural norms” and the benefits “may take years to fully manifest”.
Meanwhile, what has really changed for teens?
As the restrictions loomed in December, the Guardian spoke with five teenagers about the ban. Nearly two months later, some were still yet to have their accounts disabled, while others had taken pre-emptive steps to ensure they were never flagged. Re-emerging on platforms as “adults”, some were shocked with the content they were greeted with. Others have simply chosen to pivot to alternative apps for messaging and accessing content that’s available without an account, but say their screen time hasn’t been reduced.
Most say while the restrictions are an imperfect inconvenience, there has been some positive impact on their IRL lives as subtle cultural shifts begin to take place.
‘I’m a bit out of the loop sometimes’ – Emma Williams, 15
I turn 16 in a few weeks and most of my friends are older than me so it hasn’t interrupted my life much. I haven’t tried to get around the ban because it’s such a short time. In the meantime, some of my friends save up reels to share with me in person, which is quite fun. We can have a good laugh together then and I prefer that over getting it sent to me and laughing alone. It’s more fun.
The only thing I’ve noticed is that I’m a bit out of the loop sometimes, mostly just with references friends might make to viral content that I’ve missed.
I have missed out on some holiday snaps friends posted and spent more time watching Netflix on my phone instead of scrolling. Overall though it’s pretty much business as usual.
‘Getting around the ban was so much easier than expected’ – Sarai Ades, 14
The restrictions didn’t interfere with me and my friends’ interactions via social media at all. We all just deleted some of our old accounts a couple of days before the restrictions kicked in and created new ones with fake birthdays about a week after. I’ve got new accounts on TikTok and Snapchat, and Instagram hasn’t flagged my old account as underage yet. It was so much easier than we thought it would be.
No one I know was even subjected to facial recognition when they started a new account. I’d noted down everyone who I wanted to stay in touch with, made a username people could recognise me by and just started fresh.
Now that the platforms think I’m over 18 I have completely unfiltered access to all the content that might have been previously left out of my feed because of content restrictions. I definitely have more videos coming up on my feed around geopolitical instability and more violent coverage. It was really shocking at first and I wasn’t at all prepared. Sometimes I set my own restrictions to avoid sensitive content because it gets a bit much.
I try to follow trustworthy sources and fact-check information from less credentialed accounts, but all this new content I’m seeing means I go down more rabbit holes trying to verify it.
My screen time has definitely increased because of that, but my time on social media is probably about the same. Social media and the internet generally has definitely become a lot more interesting for me because I now see more content about political issues and debates. I also watch more content from accounts I disagree with just so I understand their points of view better.
I’m more inclined to open social media now because of all the new information and opinions I have access to. I think it’s really positive because I can find more like-minded people to have productive conversations with and also have better conversations with my real-life friends because they are also seeing all this new stuff.
I feel like our horizons are expanding, and that’s positive. There’s a comfort in learning that there’s so many other people out there who feel the same; are worried about the state of the world and want to do something about it. Being exposed to this new content has inspired me. I really want to push more progressive, inclusive, compassionate ideologies in my life.
More people I don’t know try to connect with me online now, and sometimes that’s a bit concerning. I never share personal information and try to be careful but I have started some friendships with people who care about the same issues as me. On a real-life level I have also seen a lot of school friends revealing their political positions through reposts and things and that has strengthened our connections in real life.
We all knew circumventing the ban was going to be possible, but it was so much easier than we could have expected. No verification, no ID, nothing. It was comedic how many times I saw a new account pop up of one of my friends.
Now I have unrestricted access I can do what I want with social media. On TikTok, I don’t really post any videos, at least not yet. I’ll probably wait until I’m 16.
‘I can connect with my friends without social media’ – Pia Monti, 13
I wasn’t really impacted by the restrictions because I only use WhatsApp and Pinterest. I don’t get involved with any WhatsApp groups that aren’t direct messages to my real-life friends and I can still use YouTube without an account. I haven’t noticed any change at all in the way my friends and I interact online or what we do while we’re offline either.
When I was younger, social media was definitely something that I was eagerly waiting for but now I don’t really care because I can see that I’m able to connect with my friends without it. Any online content I want to see I can access without accounts. The only platform I might join when I’m 16 is Instagram and that would only be because lots of older people in my family are already using it, so it would be to stay in touch with them.
‘When the ban was first announced everyone was like CODE RED!’ – Ewan Buchanan-Constable, 15
On the whole nothing much has changed. I have three accounts on YouTube, only two of those were flagged. Normal watching hasn’t been affected because you don’t need an account for that. I can’t even remember if I put in my correct birthday when I opened the surviving account so it might never be flagged. I have noticed some videos now require age verification to watch them now.
A couple of my friends have lost their social media accounts on TikTok, etc. They’ve just made new accounts, no problems. Some people have been asked for facial recognition, but it seems really unreliable and inaccurate.
Because there was quite a bit of uncertainty on how or if it would work, on the last day of school everyone was exchanging phone numbers. Before the restrictions, giving your phone number seemed quite intimate, but the bans seemed to break that barrier down a bit. It means I have been able to develop closer friendships with people I was just acquainted with, because before I was one of the only ones without social media and was left out. But that’s really just a happy accident, not a real consequence of the ban I don’t think.
When the ban was first announced everyone was like CODE RED! Thinking of ways to get around it and stressing out. But it was easy to get around if you wanted to. People still talk about it, but it’s not a big deal any more. At worst, for kids who want to be on the socials, it’s an inconvenience.
What upsets me most is the waste of resources that has gone into this whole thing. That money should have been spent figuring out ways to regulate the platforms rather than trying to regulate kids. Or at least put towards educating kids and parents on the best ways to avoid online harms. Over Christmas I saw so many little kids spending so much time on screens – their parents let them.
‘It doesn’t feel like a big deal at all’ – Grace Guo, 14
The social media ban only prevents us from making accounts; I can still search things on YouTube. The ban has made me realise that we sometimes depend on social media a bit too much and there are different ways to communicate and get entertainment.
Without access to apps like Instagram, there are still ways to socially connect and to express ourselves. I’ve switched from Instagram to texts and WhatsApp for messaging and I don’t use technology as much since the ban came into effect. As someone who didn’t really use social media to showcase things I was doing, I haven’t noticed any change. Maybe I connect through face-to-face interactions more.
I haven’t heard many people even talking about the ban since it happened. It doesn’t feel like a big deal at all.
