Australia's social media ban: should Europe follow suit?
A new law banning children under the age of 16 from using social media comes into force in Australia today. Platform operators are required to ensure that children in this age group can no longer create an account. Commentators in Europe discuss whether the ban makes sense and can be effective.
Worse than nicotine addiction
Commenting in The Daily Telegraph, Labour MP Fred Thomas hopes that the UK will follow suit:
“In England, more than 500 children a day are being referred to mental health services for anxiety. The average 12-year-old spends 29 hours each week on their smartphone. ... Young people themselves are asking for help. Nearly 90 per cent of 13- to 16-year-olds say they have tried to limit their smartphone use. They know it's harming them. ... We've regulated tobacco because it's addictive and deadly. ... That's good policy but, if I'm honest, if I had a teenager I'd rather they were addicted to smoking than scrolling. At least they'd be going outside.”
An interesting experiment
Australia is now a test case for Europe, says The Irish Times:
“The response of the social media platforms affected including Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat and YouTube will be of particular interest. The owners of these platforms include some of the world's largest and most powerful corporations such as Meta and Alphabet. ... Social media companies will comply with the letter of the law but unless they embrace its spirit it will be hard for its goals to be achieved. Efforts by children under the age of 16 to circumvent the ban can be taken as a given. ... As Ireland and other EU states consider what to do, Australia will be an important test case.”
Listen to those affected
Der Spiegel is not convinced:
“If you make it difficult or even impossible for young people to access social media, you are partially depriving them of social participation. This debate cannot be resolved overnight – and will probably soon end up in court. ... Well-intentioned is the opposite of well done. If Germany really wants to do something to protect young people, it should avoid a mad dash for action. Democratic solutions require a social debate in which those affected, in this case children and young people, are also heard.”
Questionable and ineffective
The NZZ also says the ban is a bad idea:
“Government intervention is all the more questionable when there are doubts about its effectiveness. The ban will most likely be easy to circumvent: young people will be able to access TikTok or Instagram in seconds using an older pal's smartphone, or bypass the age restrictions using foreign VPNs. The authorities are ignoring this reality. Blocking social media will do little to reduce screen time. Young people will simply switch to other digital spaces – online games, streams or forums, which can be just as toxic. The addictive behaviour, stress and social pressure remain, even if individual channels disappear.”
Adults should reflect on their own behaviour
In the Swiss canton of Ticino, a petition is going round to ban mobile phones in schools. Corriere del Ticino reminds parents of their duty to act as role models:
“The real question is not whether or not we should ban schoolchildren from using mobiles, but what relationship we, as adults, have with the object we want our kids to leave at home. … We adults get upset because children get distracted in class, because our child 'doesn't talk to anyone' in the breaks, because everyone just stares at their screens. And then, as parents, we sit down to dinner in the evenings with our phones on the table, answer a message after every three bites of food and scroll through our feeds while our child is telling us about their day. ... We pass the buck onto our children because we don't have the guts to face up to our own problem.”