Social media ban: Multicultural youth and families share their perspectives
Amid growing community awareness and concern regarding the risks and dangers of online social media platforms to the health and wellbeing of young Australians, governments across Australia have been exploring the use of age restrictions for social media.
Last week, the Australian Government introduced legislation that would ban young people under 16 from accessing social media, with the Online Safety Amendment (Social Media Minimum Age) Bill 2024. The Bill passed through Australian Parliament yesterday, after being fast-tracked with bipartisan support from the Coalition.
The changes introduced by this legislation will significantly impact young Australians, impeding their right to access digital spaces – also a recognised source of positive support for learning, work, connection and wellbeing.
Despite the significant impact of these changes there is little evidence to show how age restrictions will improve the digital safety of young people. Coupled with this there has been a lack of meaningful community consultation to further explore and understand this (except for South Australia, where a detailed review resulted in a proposal to introduce a ban for 14-year-olds, not 16-year-olds).
As a result, we know very little about how such a ban will impact upon young people and even less about how it will affect different cohorts of our youth population, including multicultural young people, or how they and their families feel about such an approach.
To better understand the community’s views and explore the impact on their lives, CMY recently spoke to multicultural young people and their families about the social media ban.
Here is a snapshot of some of the findings:
Young people said that social media provided a vital sense of community and support, helping them navigate life and find support for issues they could not share with other people in their lives. This was more pronounced for young people who lived in regional areas and had less access to services and support and relied on social media platforms as a “third place” to spend time.
“Reddit and Tumblr got me through my transition – without the support I received there it would have made my life much harder. Without the YouTubers I watched, I would not have even figured out I was trans, and I would still be dealing with internalised homophobia.”
– Young person
Parents we heard from were supportive of the ban in the hopes that it would prevent their children from being harmed by unsafe content, and addictive behaviours, as well as feeling that managing and regulating social media use was too challenging.
“[I am concerned] that they will be targeted for bullying or exposed to inappropriate sexual content. I am concerned that my son’s addictive gaming will lead to gambling.”
– Parent
Parents reported being unsure of how to best support their children as they navigated the challenges of social media and called for more education and support.
“Training needs to happen. Empower the parents to have skills of the use of digital devices.”
– Parent
Young people opposed the ban, and discussed alternative initiatives that would address their own concerns with social media, while still granting them access. There was a strong demand for platforms to be better regulated and safer, and for schools to play a part in educating them on digital literacy.
“I think there should be limitations to what can appear on people’s social media not that they should have no access or permission from parents. It is the internet that should be limited and impacted, not the young people who use it.”
– Young person
“Governments need to do more to educate on mental health, bullying and living in a digitised world.”
– Young person
CMY is committed to ensuring the rights of young people are upheld and that they can meaningfully express their identities, and participate fully, while also being safe. We are working to ensure our ongoing advocacy on this, and related legislation, is evidence-based and informed by the views and experiences of multicultural young people, their families and those who are working with them.
(Note: Young people from CMY’s networks were invited to participate in an online survey (n=14) and we held consultations with multicultural parents (n=5).)