Despite having 4.9 billion users worldwide, social media is tied closely to Fear Of Missing Out, cyberbullying, anxiety and depression, according to UC Davis Health. Australian lawmakers found it concerning enough to ban underage users from social media.
Australia’s bipartisan bill, the Online Safety Amendment, will take effect in late 2025. Supported by 77% of Australians, according to YouGov, it aims to prevent anyone under the age of 16 from accessing social media and opening accounts. This is the highest minimum age set by any country, according to BBC
“They should limit it to people not in high school,” sophomore Ali Rashid said. “I feel like high schoolers should be allowed to use social media because that’s usually how they get news and also stuff about their school and community.
Many companies such as Google, TikTok and Meta Platforms have argued it goes against the right to free speech. Australia’s legislation has made it clear that social media companies and their owners will face accountability and fines if systematic error plays a role in underage teens accessing social media platforms.
“Sixteen is still pretty young and there’s still a lot of brain development going on, so I think it’s a good starting place, but we still have a lot of research to do,” English teacher Tatiana Kinsel said. “I almost feel that at 16, they should have teen accounts that only have certain access and then maybe as they turn 18 or 21 even, you can expand that access.”
Kinsel is not alone in her belief. While the age limit of 16 is a first worldwide, there are others who think that 16 is still too crucial of an age of development to be exposed to the world of social media, which fuels anxiety, depression, and loneliness, especially in teens and young adults, according to UC Davis Health.
“I think it would be even better if it goes higher. Sixteen isn’t even an adult,” junior Eliza Lartey said. “I feel like that’s a prime age where you’re starting to figure out yourself. If you look at the bigger picture and see all these things about increasing rates of anxiety and depression, and people just not feeling the best or comparing themselves to people, this would be something that would easily decrease that, because now you don’t have something that causes you to feel that way.”
It isn’t just Australia that is cracking down on social media. Meta faced rising pressure about Instagram’s addictive nature, appropriateness of content and role in declining teen mental health – the same reason that the ban in Australia was developed. In response, it created teen accounts for ages 13-17 that are private by default, limiting sensitive content and restricting who can message teens to those they follow and their own contacts.
FCPS is also taking smaller scale actions, making more rigorous efforts to cut down on phones during the school day. While not necessarily controlling social media access, students are expected to put their phones in their backpacks during class time, which automatically translates into a decrease in social media usage, at least during the school day.
“I am very much a proponent of having a phone on their person because I think we live in a pretty dangerous world,” Kinsel said. “I think we need to do more with only allowing it to be used for emergencies. We are having a lot of kids walking down the hall looking at it and walking into things or walking into me as I am standing outside of my classroom. Now it is almost like an addiction; they are trying to get their hit before the next class.”
In fact, according to the Associated Press, the U.S. Surgeon General pushed Congress to require a warning label on social media platforms saying that they are extremely addictive and associated with teen mental health harms, such as doubling the risk of developing anxiety and depression symptoms. He warned there wasn’t enough evidence that social media is safe for children, and that it should be a more pressing issue.
“I feel like there’s so many things that could change and get better as a result of not being consumed by a society, where if you don’t have social media, you’re like a freak,” Lartey said. “There would be more conversations, more real life, more going out, hanging out, less staying behind a screen all day rotting in bed. There’d probably be a lack of entertainment online, but things would just get better and that’s all that matters.”
Australia’s move draws attention to social media regulations around the world and leads to the question of whether students will start seeing that happen here, whether it be within FCPS, Virginia or the U.S.
“It could be really helpful,” Kinsel said. “I think as a culture in the United States, it’s not going to happen. We are, for better or worse, a very freedom-based, personal rights-based country, whereas Australia is not, but there’s a much more social consciousness of ‘we must create laws that sometimes control people in order to help them.’”
