Australian teen social media ban brings holiday headspace problems

By Byron Kaye and Cordelia Hsu

SYDNEY, Dec 8 (Reuters) – Sydney teenager Iris Tolson believes the start of her first summer vacation under Australia’s youth social media ban will be relatively easy to spend time with family, but fears she will become lonely and isolated as the weeks go by.

From December 10, Australia will impose a world-first social media ban on under-16s, blocking them from TikTok, Alphabet’s YouTube and Meta’s Instagram.

More than one million under-16s will lose their accounts when most of Australia shuts down until February and breaks nine days later for the long holiday from December to January.

“You’re isolated for about six weeks during the school holidays,” Tolson, 15, told Reuters. “While this is going on, I’ll probably feel more involved in social media. It’s not such a good time.”

Mental health experts say the rollout just before the year’s longest school holiday could make the shock worse for teenagers who rely on technology for socialization and lack school’s grounding routine, or institutional supports.

Experts say the cold turkey effect of a school and a society will be especially evident in remote locations or for children from minority groups such as immigrants and LGBTQI+ people, who lean more on the Internet to connect with like-minded people.

No quantitative study has shown that Australians under 16 use social media to access mental health services, but a 2024 survey by youth service ReachOut.com found that 72% of 16–25 year olds used it to seek mental health advice and almost half to seek professional help.

“If you were at school, there would be a lot of chatter and chatter; it’s a shared experience,” said Nicola Palfrey, head of clinical leadership at Headspace, a government-funded youth mental health service.

“If you have a lot of time on your hands and a little in your head, if you’re feeling very anxious or worried or sad, that’s the kind of thing where it’s not appropriate to spend time alone with your thoughts. Those are the people who start to worry.”

The Australian government has pitched the ban – which threatens the platforms with fines of up to A$49.5 million ($33 million) – as beneficial for mental health as it will protect young people from bullying, harmful content and addictive algorithms.

At a conference this month, eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant said some young people from marginalized groups “feel more like themselves online than in the real world”, and should visit a variety of discounted online spaces, including those run by Headspace.

The government will collect data for two years after banning its “benefits, but unintended consequences,” she said.

Youth services are poised for an increase in cases

Already the timing – a by-product of when the law passed through Parliament – ​​is prompting changes in youth services that rely on social media to reach young people.

Kids Helpline, a telephone and online service, usually has a relaxing summer experience. This year, it is training 16 extra advisers, an increase of 10% to account for a potential flood of referrals due to social media restrictions, said Tony Fitzgerald, its head of virtual services.

School-related stress usually eases during the holidays, but “young people potentially, being disconnected from being able to communicate with each other on these platforms, can actually increase anxiety,” he said.

“We will ensure that adequate consulting resources are available to support that growth.”

Lauren Frost, head of policy for the Youth Affairs Council Victoria, said she was getting a lot of inquiries from youth organizations about how to function without social media, adding that she was planning a new national body to discuss reaching young people offline. But during the holidays, even offline options will be in short supply.

“Youth will have less interaction with teachers or support staff or youth workers, so they won’t be able to play a role in helping youth during this time of transition,” Frost said.

“They’re feeling a lot of fear and a lot of anxiety.”

At Perth’s Fiona Stanley Hospital, a clinic that treats gaming and social media addiction will monitor for an increase in presentations over the holidays, said Daniela Vecchio, its head of mental health and addiction services.

Annie Wang, 14, said she uses various social media apps but is not too concerned about the ban because she does most of her communication on Discord, which is exempt because its main purpose is messaging.

As for those who don’t have Discord, she said: “They’re basically closed to everyone, and they’ll probably be all over the school holidays, which isn’t good”.

($1 = 1.5053 Australian dollars)

(Reporting by Byron Kaye and Cordelia Hsu, with additional reporting by Stephika Bikesh; Editing by Michael Perry)