The world's first social media ban for kids is in effect - Jonathan Savage is live

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Now we travel across the pond to check up on
a story happening even further across the pond in Australia,
and we talk with Jonathan Savage. Jonathan, Welcome to the show.

Speaker 2 (00:09):
Yeah, we're really stretching the definition of the word pond today,
aren't we.

Speaker 1 (00:12):
It's a very large pond, Jonathan. Now and over in Australia, though,
I think this is where the story is coming from, right,
the world's first social media ban for kids.

Speaker 2 (00:22):
Yeah, it is a social media ban for under sixteens
from ten of the most prominent of these platforms, Instagram, Napjat,
TikTok all included in this. Australia's Communications Minister calls it
a bright new mourning for her country. A bit more
of a mixed reaction from youngsters though, But as of today,

(00:42):
the Australian government is demanding social media firms tell them
how many accounts they have the activated. They will need
to do it every month the next six months, and
companies that don't take meaningful steps to stop under sixteens
getting onto their platforms could ultimately be fined up to
thirty three million dollars.

Speaker 1 (01:03):
Now, I'm not in Australia. But I imagine the people of
Australia have spoken out about this, what do they think?
Do they think this is a great thing? I imagine
the kids aren't excited about it, but do the parents
think it's a good thing.

Speaker 2 (01:13):
About three quarters of Australian adults say they support this ban,
and in the run up to this, Australia held an
open inquiry, as it were, to hear from people with
their opinions. This open consultation with people giving evidence about
the effect that social media had had on their lives,
on their kids' lives. They heard from parents who children

(01:37):
who'd taken their lives after interactions on social media. Among
the youngsters, though, there are those who say that their
means of communication are being shut off. Australia a big country,
a rural country. People with friends who were twenty miles away.
Perhaps for their closest friends, they found more difficult to

(01:58):
communicate in the manner to which they are used to.
There is, of course also opposition from social media tech
firms themselves. They say the government's overreaching. They see the
better way to handle this is with strength and parental
controls on these platforms. That's a solution they'd like to permit.

Speaker 1 (02:18):
One of the things I always think about, Jonathan, is
sometimes these things miss the mark and my concern I
don't like bans on anything. I always would prefer that
parents take the initiative to tell their children get that
phone out of your hand and get off the computer
or whatever it is that you're doing, and they do
a little bit more from the parenting thing. As opposed
to the government passing a rule. It's almost like you're

(02:39):
abdicating our authority as parents to the government to ban
this thing, as opposed to the parents stepping in and
doing it. Because in my experience, when they do this,
there's always a regulation that is intended to stop the
children from doing it, but invariably it interferes with my
ability to do it as an adult. For example, you
remember a while back with the Tide Pod challenge, the

(03:00):
kids were putting the pods in their mouth, and so
Tide said, well, we're going to stop that, and we're
going to put all of the safety packaging on the
tide things so that the kids can't get into it.
I'm sure the kids can still get into it, but
it makes it harder for me to get the darn
thing open. So same thing with the pill bottles. You know,
they make all these things to make it child proof,
but in reality is making it just irritating for me

(03:20):
to access it. And I'll bet the kids will just Okay,
you shut down my account, I'll make a new account,
or I'll get on a friend's device or whatever it is,
and they will find a workaround to whatever the government
comes up with as a solution.

Speaker 2 (03:32):
Yeah, the Australian government, they know that the kids can
be determined, and they know that there are going to
be opportunities and there are going to be times when
kids get around the technology because they're going to be
technological obstructions in place to stop youngsters from getting online.
But they believe that they can be nimble enough to

(03:53):
adapt and in the long run, this is going to
be valuable to keep kids safe. Now you talk about,
you know, the effects on parents and what parents feel
about this, it's Devil's advocate. Perhaps. What I've heard Australian
parents say is that teenagers can be pretty challenging, and
they can be pretty powerful, they can be pretty determined,

(04:14):
and when you add the power of social media to
the determination of teenagers, parents just don't stand a chance.
You can't do nineteen eighties parenting in the twenties twenty twenties,
and they feel happy that the government has their back.

Speaker 1 (04:28):
I'll tell you what you do is you sign on
to social media yourself as a parent, and then you
friend them and friend their friends and see how long
they think it's cool, because they'll think they'll think better.
But all of a sudden, dad's giving a thumbs up
to whatever dumb TikTok challenge that they're doing.

Speaker 2 (04:42):
Yeah, let's see. Let's see how it goes when your
parents are your friends on social media. I know. But
then I know a lot of kids in multiple social
media accounts, so you know they might they might just
have a secret one and one.

Speaker 1 (04:51):
Yeah, they got the one that mom and dad see
and then the one that all their friends see, and
they're not the same account. I guess there's nothing to
stop that from happening. Jonathan Savage, thank you so so
much for joining us. And by the way, say hi
to my friend Kevin Miller out there at kid O
who will I will be remiss if I didn't, because
he will then complain that I didn't I didn't acknowledge
him that he sent that message through you by my producer.

(05:13):
So I'm telling you on the air say hi to
him the next time you're on with him out there
in boise I.

Speaker 2 (05:18):
Will you know what he said. Actually, I spoke to
him not long ago and he said he said to me,
you've got quite a lot of John monson you, and
he meant that as a call for us.

Speaker 1 (05:26):
I guess I take that as a compliment. Jonathan Savage,
thank you so much for being on the show and
spending some time with us live from London. My name
is John Mounts.