This news article originally appeared in The West Australian and has been republished with permission.
Banning vulnerable kids from social media could deny them access to mental health resources and support, the boss of Kids Helpline has warned.
Tracy Adams said just capping the age at which children could use social media would likely not work but risked preventing some in need from seeking help.
The warning comes as one of the country’s leading psychologists raised concerns the ban could plunge a generation of Australian teens into serious withdrawal.
Ms Adams said, while social media could do real harm to young people, it could also be a source of connection and mental health resources for children who were struggling.
Kids Helpline runs a free, 24/7 helpline and online chat service for children and young people and received more than 320,000 calls received last year.
“Kids Helpline have a social channel and we are concerned that a blanket ban could shut down things that are safe and working,” she said. “Young people are worried that they’ll lose those connections.
“I personally think that young people will find a way (to use social media). We don’t want to lose sight of giving kids an opportunity to be part of this conversation.”
The Federal Government has yet to say at what age its proposed ban on kids using social media, from Facebook to TikTok, would kick in. However, it is expected to be somewhere between the age of 14 and 16 years old.
Ms Adams said a ban should not replace education and pressure on social media giants to better regulate content.
“We’ve seen with sextortion that it’s 15 to 17-year-old boys who are being targeted, so changing the age of social media access to, say, 14, won’t actually change that,” she said.
Since the proposed social media ban was announced, experts have been sceptical about whether it would achieve its aim of protecting young people from harm.
Australian Psychological Society president Catriona Davis-McCabe waded into the debate on Thursday, suggesting a ban could lead to serious mental health consequences for young people.
“Everything is based around social media now, and I think that a lot of young people who use it on a daily basis have formed habits and dependencies around it,” Dr Davis-McCabe said.
“By removing the source of constant stimulation, it does have the potential to lead to withdrawal symptoms, and that can include things like anxiety, restlessness and irritability.
“A complete ban could isolate some children, especially those who do use to stay connected with people and friends in the community.”
Dr Davis-McCabe said while she supported the Government’s motivations in trying to reduce social media harms such as “depression” and “image-based anxiety,” they needed to ensure wrap-around services were in place to strengthen mental health support for young people in order to make the ban effective.
“When it comes to complex social problems, bans by themselves can be quite ineffective just by themselves,” she said.
“The effectiveness of a proposed ban like this will also depend on the availability, particularly for young people, of alternative social outlets — so that renewed emotional support that’s going to be available to people through any kind of transition is needed.
“We also need to consider getting psychologists into schools, so that wraparound support can be provided. But, I think it’s a good thing for young people’s mental health, but it needs to be thought out carefully and the right people need to be consulted.”
Concerns about cutting off kids from support services were raised in Question Time on Thursday, prompting Mr Albanese to say that the planned ban was being driven by concern from parents who want their children off their devices and having “real experiences with real people.”