Andrew Dickens: Good luck with the social media ban Australia

So today is the day the Australians lead the world with a social media ban for people under 16. 

Good luck with that. The kids who still want to be online will get around it. Because, you know, kids and computers. 

They can’t speak the Queen’s English, but they sure can speak computer. 

They’ll VPN and forge and weasel their way through the same way we all got our hands on booze when we were underage. 

And the kids who’ll actively skirt the law are either the ones who believe social media benefits their life in society, or they’re hoping one day that they’ll get some positive self-affirmation even though more often than not they’re bullied, and of course, the bullies themselves, because bullying is fun for them. 

They’re not going to pay attention to some words in black and white written by some old parliamentarians in a grand hall wearing their fancy clothes.

And the kids aren’t going to be thankful. You’ve taken away their town hall, their community centre, their pub.  

They’re going to be resentful. And I reckon there’s a lot of parents who think social media has rotted their kids' brains. Why? Well, they’ve gone socialist haven’t they?

So, it’s virtue signalling and we all know how we feel about virtue signalling, even if the virtue is a good one. 

And speaking of which, I found the whole argy bargy between the B416 crew and the Prime Minister to be generally distasteful. It seemed like the parties were more concerned about who got the credit for the posturing rather than helping the kids themselves. 

But the message is out there and it’s a good one. Keep your kid's social media usage as low as possible. You’re the parent. Parent. 

So, my boys are in their 20s and they grew up with all of this. 

I remember asking them if they’d been cyber bullied on social media. Their reply was not really. If you’re being hassled, you block the idiots. And turn the phone off. 

I was so proud. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
So today is the day the Australians lead the world
with the social media ban for people under sixteen. So
good luck with that, because you know, the kids who
still want to be online will get around it, because
you know, kids and computers. They can't speak the Queen's English,
but they can sure speak computer. They'll get round it.
They'll VPN, they'll forge and weasele their way through the
same way that we all got our hands on booze
when we were under age. And the kids who will

(00:24):
actively skirt the law are either the ones who believe
that social media benefits their life and society and I
need it and I want it, I'm going to have
it and I'm prepared to break the law, or they're
hoping one day they might actually get some positive self
affirmation off it, even though more often than not they're bullied,
and of course the bullies themselves. Because the bullies like
the social media and they want to keep doing it
and they having fun. They are not going to pay

(00:44):
attention to some words in black and white written by
some old parliamentarians in a grand hall wearing their fancy clothes.
Thanks Dad, no thanks. The kids are not going to
be thankful you've taken away their town hall, their community center,
their pub. They're going to be some of them are
going to be resentful, are going to be happy, some
are going to be resentful. And I reckon there's a
lot of parents who reckon social media has rotted their brains,

(01:06):
the brains of their kids, so they're behind it. And
why we've asked them. They go, well, oh, they are
on social media, my kids and now they've turned into socialists.
Just anyway, look the whole thing, and I think Patrick
said this, it's a signal, and that's virtue signaling. And
we all know how we feel about virtue signaling. The
last government was great in even if the virtue is

(01:27):
a good one. And speaking which talking about virtue signaling,
I found the whole argibargie between the Before sixteen crew
and the Prime Minister to be a little bit distasteful.
It seemed like these guys were more concerned about who
gets the credit for the posturing rather than helping the
kids themselves. But look, here we go, the messages out there,
and it's a good one. Keep your kids' social media

(01:48):
usage as low as possible. You are the parent, so parent,
and here's my thing, My boys are in their twenties
and they grew they grew up with all of this,
and I remember asking them when they are teens, boys,
if you've been cyber bullied on social media? And their
reply was not really. And then they said, look, if
you're being bullied and if you're being handled, what do
you do is you block the dickheads. And that's what

(02:11):
I do. That's what we do too. Oh and we
just turned the phone off. And by the way, can
you drive me to football? Kids are still being kids,
And I see them out and about at the moment.
They're on holiday already. They're at the beach and they're
hanging out and they're not scrolling on their phones. But
I'll tell you what the adults are for more from
Early Edition with Ryan Bridge. Listen live to News Talks.

(02:32):
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