Heather du Plessis-Allan: Will Australia's social media ban actually work?

So tomorrow's the big day, isn't it? And it is, I think, not an overstatement to say that the eyes of the world, well, at least politicians around the world, are going to be on Australia and whether the social media ban will actually work.

And that is still a live question, isn't it? We're less than 24 hours from the thing taking effect and none of us can totally say for sure that we know it's going to work. 

For two reasons: one, it's the internet, so there's always a workaround out there. And two, it involves kids, and if there's a workaround, kids will find the workaround.

I'm going to call it for you now: it's not going to work, if your definition of working is that 100% of children under 16 get kicked off and stay off until they're 16.  

But I think it is possible that it is going to work if your definition is a little bit more flexible, which is that most kids get kicked off and stay off because their parents force them to do it. And I think that is the key thing here, like it always is, parents getting involved.  

Talking about whether it works or not, actually I think kind of misses the point here, which is that this gives parents something that they haven't had yet, which is permission to keep their kids off social media. Because what parents have been finding is it's very hard to keep 14 year old Susie off social media, off Facebook, off Instagram, off TikTok, off Snapchat, because all Susie's friends are on it. And if Susie's not on it, then she becomes the weird kid, and nobody wants their kid to be the weird kid, right? So you relent and you let Susie on it.  

This has the potential to flip all of that pressure around. Now everyone's off. Now the kid that's on it, little Johnny's on it, Susie comes home and says, oh Johnny's on TikTok, can I go on TikTok? You go, no, Johnny's a naughty kid from a family that has no rules, no boundaries, no discipline. Susie, you've got boundaries and discipline your parents care about, you stay off. It gives permission for the parents to be able to do that kind of thing.  

And if you're a parent, you know peer pressure is massive, isn't it? Especially in the teenage years. The Aussie government's doing its bit by bringing us to this point. The tech companies are being dragged into doing their bit and ultimately this will live or die in Australia based on whether Australian parents do their bit and actually step up to the plate and parent properly. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
So tomorrow's the big day, isn't it. And it is
I think not an overstatement to say that the eyes
of the world, well at least politicians around the world,
are going to be on Australia and whether the social
media ban will actually work, and that is still a
live question, isn't it. We're less than twenty four hours
from the thing taking effect, and none of us can
totally say for sure that we know it's going to work.
For two reasons. One, it's the Internet, so there's always

(00:22):
a work around out there, and to involved kids and
if there's a work around, kids will find the work around.
I'm going to call it for you now, it's not
going to work if your definition of working is that
one hundred percent of children under sixteen get kicked off
and stay off until they're sixteen. But I think it
is possible that it is going to work if your
definition is a little bit more flexible, which is that
most kids get kicked off and stay off because their

(00:44):
parents force them to do it. And I think that
is the key thing here, like it always is parents
getting involved talking about whether it works or not. Actually,
I think kind of misses the point here, which is
that This gives parents something that they haven't had yet,
which is permission to keep their kids off social media,
because what parents have been finding is it's very hard
to keep fourteen year old Susie off social media. Off

(01:05):
the facy, off the Insta of TikTok, off the snapchat,
because all Susie's friends are on it, and if Susie's
not on it, then she becomes the weird kid. And
nobody wants their kid to be the weird kid, right,
So you're relenting. You let Susie on it. This has
the potential to flip all of that pressure around. Now
everyone's off. Now the kid that's on it, Little Johnny's
on it, Susie comes home's old Johnny's on TikTok? Can
I go on TikTok? You go? No, Johnny's a naughty

(01:26):
kid from a family that has no rules, no boundaries,
no discipline. Susie, You've got boundaries and discipline your parents
care about. You know, you stay off. It gives permission
for the parents to be able to do that kind
of thing. And if you're a parent, you know peer
pressure is massive, isn't it, especially in the teenage years.
The Aussie government's doing its bit by bringing us to
this point. The tech companies are being dragged into doing

(01:47):
their bit, and ultimately this will live or die in
Australia based on whether Australian parents do their bit and
actually step up to the plate and parent properly. Here
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