Starting on December 10, many Australian teenagers will no longer be as online as their peers in other countries. The Social Media Minimum Age Bill, passed in 2024, stipulates that a person must be at least 16 years old to have an account on platforms like Instagram , TikTok , Snapchat , and YouTube .

Across the world, people young and old are increasingly recognizing the negative impacts that social media has on adolescents. Nearly half of teenagers in the US claim these platforms harm people their age ; parents are even more concerned. While several US states have introduced legislation to safeguard kids online, a national ban seems far off.

Australia, by contrast, fast-tracked its prohibition: Annabel West, a lawyer and mother in Adelaide, read Jonathan Haidt’s book Th

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