I support the Albanese government’s proposal to impose an age ban on social media overall, and surprisingly, so do many young people. A survey of 14- to 29-year-olds found that 42% of those surveyed were positive about the idea, with 25% neutral. But as a standalone action, a ban will not be the intended elixir for the real issue at hand.
The reality is there have always been various age restrictions on platforms, and since I signed up for Facebook at age 11, they’ve been a breeze to get around. I have doubts this will change as laws will never be able to keep up with the agility of digital natives. I also have concerns that without adequate education of why a ban is being imposed, and without alternatives for teens to socialise online, this may drive children to deeper parts of the web that are decentralised, and growing.
Meta’s recent announcement of “teen accounts” on Instagram for under-16s is the latest attempt by a social media giant to give parents greater control. However it’s unclear whether this will address the core issue, which is algorithms and how they are weaponised against us by social media giants. Back in 2014, when a stay-at-home sick day meant a copious amount of Instagram scrolling, you would inevitably see a message saying “You’re All Caught Up – You’ve seen all new posts from the past 48 hours”. The idea of a finite scroll session imposed by the platform you’re using is now a long-lost memory. In 2016, Instagram switched from posts shown to you in chronological order, exclusively by people you followed, to an algorithmic feed that prioritised content based on a user’s interactions and engagement.
In my experience, this switch is when platforms pivoted from being a fun way to keep up to date with friends (albeit still riddled with issues, particularly for teenage girls who were captivated by the various dieting and self-harm trends of the 2010s) to an addictive platform, personally tailored to keep you on-app for as long as possible.
Algorithms risk harming children by getting them hooked on the dopamine of unlimited fast-paced content, and they can affect us all by hindering our ability to think outside of echo chambers, which provide us with intense confirmation bias of our beliefs, intensifying political polarisation. We have seen more hateful and extremist online rhetoric, as well as the spread of misinformation and disinformation – posing a serious threat to democracy. Whether conscious or not, we have all become victims of deepened ideological divides. Simultaneously, there has been little to no education for the masses about media literacy to counteract this.
This, of course, harms young and malleable minds the most. Platforms such as TikTok, YouTube and Instagram know that young men are intrigued by content that expresses frustration with dating and women. It detects this quickly and pushes more extreme and radical viewpoints that can create a feedback loop, reinforcing harmful beliefs. Hence the emergence of “incels”. Members of this online community of “involuntary celibates” blame women and societal structures for their inability to form romantic or sexual relationships, and violence (to the self and others) is highly glorified in these online spaces. It’s hard to separate this community from the proliferate online abuse women are subjected to.
There are many benefits to social media too, of course. The Teach Us Consent campaign, which led to the mandated consent education we now have in Australia, began when I posted an Instagram story. Gaining momentum on social media, the campaign gave many young people a means to use their voice and tell policymakers about their experiences with sexual violence. And for many with difficult or isolated home lives, it is a true blessing to have constant access to a community.
However, anyone who grew up with their own laptop or iPhone knows it was common to come across objectively detrimental content on social media (whether that be eating disorder idealisation, hateful commentary, pornography, or self-harm romanticisation). The normalisation of this kind of content demonstrates the scale of harms that can exist on these platforms when unregulated.
Social media platforms have long known about the significant harm they cause to their users, particularly young people. Ideally, these platforms would self-regulate to prevent this. But social media companies know very well they directly benefit from our anger, divisiveness and the valuable time we spend on their platforms. So until they own responsibility, I see the government’s proposed ban as a small but significant step. If nothing else, it would place social media platforms on notice, and it may give parents the confidence to restrict the age at which their children are allowed to join a platform, where they will inevitably be shaped, for better or for worse.
Chanel Contos is the founder of Teach Us Consent and the author of Consent Laid Bare
