MINI: Everything you need to know about the U16s Social Media Ban

The u16s Social Media Ban comes into effect today, so Britt & Matt share all the deets + what they think about the new rule. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, Maddie Jay, big day for the kids today. Today
is officially day one of the social media band for
sixteen year old and under. They are not happy.

Speaker 2 (00:11):
I feel like this has come around really quickly. I
feel like it was just yesterday we first started having
the conversation about potentially doing this.

Speaker 1 (00:17):
Yeah. And so it's platforms like Facebook, Instagram, threads. Which
threads is that newer one. I don't really use it
as we It's more like you just make comments, right,
You're not actually posting stuff like Twitter, but on Instagram.

Speaker 3 (00:29):
Yeah, it's like Instagram's Twitter are great, thank you producer Grace, Reddit.

Speaker 1 (00:32):
Snapchat, TikTok, Twitch, YouTube, and x which is formally Twitter.
So they are all the platforms affected. And it's because
it's been so much research on how detrimental social media
is to kids' health.

Speaker 2 (00:43):
Do you think, Brittany, There's obviously two opinions here. Those
who think this is great, We should have been done
ages ago. Others who feel like kids are being hard
done by, especially those are rural areas of Australia. They're
going to feel more isolated. But do you feel like
this is a good thing?

Speaker 3 (00:57):
Do you know?

Speaker 1 (00:58):
I really do? And I listen, and I understand how
to a fourteen, fifteen, sixteen year old this feels like
the biggest thing in the world, and that is because
they are so invested in it. They're clocking up eight, nine,
ten hours a day online on social media, and that's
they're still going to school in that time. They're still
and I'm like, okay, so where's the time for sports,
where's the time for your your friendships? Having time away

(01:19):
from your phone. I understand it's going to feel like
there's a really big hole. And a lot of them
have come out and said, you know, this is how
we connect with each other, and I understand that, but
that's because you don't know a world where you can
connect in any other way.

Speaker 2 (01:32):
Do you Did you ever use emson Messenger?

Speaker 1 (01:35):
Yeah, of course, you'd run home from school and you
jump on like chat to your friends that you were
just with at school.

Speaker 2 (01:40):
So people can they can still get in contact with
each other. Exactly is the emsen messenger? Is that safe?
Is that even a thing anymore that's still around?

Speaker 1 (01:47):
That's not a thing. But they were saying, you.

Speaker 2 (01:48):
Know, kids, saad messenger, that's what we need right now.

Speaker 1 (01:52):
Kids are saying this is how we communicate. You can
still communicate. We're not locking you in your bedroom, and
you still have phones, you still have ways to talk
to each other. You can'still text message. It's just to
get your your face and your eyes out of a
screen in a fake world that's not real life.

Speaker 2 (02:06):
I have two thoughts. One is I think it runs
the risk though of kids under the age of sixteen
running to another platform that is not counted as one
of the platforms that is going to be banned. And
just so you know, if they are found guilty, they
can face fines of up to think over forty million dollars,
like they're trying to enforce this with huge penalties. But

(02:27):
I think there's always going to be new platforms popping
up that are under the radar.

Speaker 1 (02:31):
And that's the thing, like, are these kids going to
run and jump onto another platform? Yeah, for sure. But
overall there's been far too much research that is so
scary on what it's doing to kids' mental health. They
can't escape it. They're there all day with it at school,
they go home, if they're having trouble, then they're bombarded
with it online. I think once they reset and it

(02:53):
becomes their new normal. I think they'll be happier for it.

Speaker 2 (02:55):
I agree. I think it's great that it's at the
forefront of so many conversations right now. Social media has
blown up so much faster. Obviously, legislation takes a little
while to follow suit. But I think one thing I
would love to see more of is responsibility on the
platforms for imposing harsher punishments for those who are breaking
the rules of bullying and being abusive. I've had people before,

(03:18):
and I'm very lucky the number of haters and trolls
that I get is minimal, But those people who come
at me if I'm informing the platform that I'm receiving
this type of behavior from a user, all they suggest
that you do is block them. If I block that person,
all they can do is create a brand new account
seconds later and continue bullying and being a troll. I
think there needs to be more responsibility on the platforms

(03:41):
to impose harsher punishments to users who are using the
platforms inappropriately.

Speaker 3 (03:45):
I agree, But if you think about it, there's never
going to be a world we live in where every
single troll and bully and dangerous person can be monitored,
which is why I think they're like, you know what,
the best thing to do is stop these young, vulnerable
people with their brains and frontal lobes still develop from
being in these precarious situations.

Speaker 2 (04:02):
But if you're reporting it, they need to do more
than just say, oh, just block.

Speaker 1 (04:05):
Them totally, move on, you'll be fine. Yeah, I'd love
to see what's going to happen. There are a couple
of kiddies that are trying to take the government to court,
so let's see what happens. By the time it goes
to court, they'll be seventeen and able to go on legally. Anyway. Hey,
that is it for us today. We're going to get
out of here.