Why the social media ban on the young in Australia is not working - Christa Ackroyd

Nowhere does New Year like Sydney, walking down to the water’s edge to witness not one, but two magnificent firework displays over the bridge and the opera house.

But like all the best celebrations, it is who you are with as much as the setting.

Over the years I have had the most fun in a run down cricket pavilion, I have also shared New Year in the poshest of eateries with friends when quite frankly we could have done exactly the same with a bag of chips and takeaway pizza.

And for the last few years, more than I can count, my lovely friend Kathy was always by my side. This year newly separated after a long marriage and losing Kathy to cancer could have been disastrous.

I certainly wasn’t looking forward to looking back. But it was one of the best yet.

Yes it was emotional, New Year always is, but sharing it with family in exactly the same spot Kathy and I had gazed on the magnificent display which lights up the sky some eight years before was something to treasure.

And do you want to know why? Because I spent it not only with family but in particular with a host of young people, my 14 year old granddaughter included.

As you can imagine I played the part of crazy Nonna. At least they laughed. But we shared much more than New Year.

During my stay I defended her choice of bikini to an understandably anxious father, borrowed her makeup (ten times more plentiful and glamorous than mine) and even went teenage clothes shopping for shorts and tiny tops I could only dream of getting in to.

Together we have watched trashy TV, and actually while I was there I was offered my own part in a reality show called the Golden Batchelor after catching up with an old TV pal from Yorkshire Television days.

In the end it was my granddaughter who was most disappointed when I turned it down believing that my future is not competing with other females for the heart of a man, but to continue to build and support the collective of women who, for whatever reason, find themselves on their own in later life, often through no fault of their own.

It’s not me glammed up and sparkly. My reality on screen has always been much grittier than that. Give me floods and snow and real lives and that’s where you will find me.

Not at cheese and wine parties (yes they still have them down under) discussing what I am seeking in a man, when the reality is I am seeking nothing that my own mind cannot provide.

Women, even my mum’s generation are remarkably resilient, nor do they need to be shown their own strengths and weaknesses as they move through life on telly.

It is so different when you are young and unsure as to who you are and who you want to become, while secretly wanting to stand out it. Then it is so easy to conform to expectations and peer group pressure.

In Australia, as you may know, social media has been banned for the under 16s. And my instinct a few weeks ago was to think this is exactly where we should be going too.

I have changed my mind – it isn’t working.

My granddaughter and her friends are still using Instagram and others, but responsibly. And that is the key here.

WhatsApp groups are to arrange to meet safely on the beach and keep in touch with home, (mums are on the same groups as well keeping an eye without overly spying on their offspring)

TikTok is about makeup and silly dances, even I was persuaded to take part in a couple, attracting the admiration from granddaughter and her friends that I could actually still dance. If only she knew.

Facebook doesn’t interest them (it’s for the oldies apparently) and they are all banned by parents from being in Twitter or X as it is now called and rightly so.

Every so often one of their friends is struck off by government officials or algorithms which have checked their usage and worked out they are inactive in school hours so are probably under 16.

But the reality is many, many young people are on social media still in Australia one month after the ban, a ban which doesn’t even use facial recognition to check on their age profile.

But here is the thing.

The way I saw them use it was no more damaging than me waiting every week for my copy of Jackie to see what to wear or what make up was the latest look, who is the latest crush, or running home from school and begging to use the telephone to call the very friends I had just left at the school gates.

What’s more when we went out to meet up there was no way of tracking where we were (all of them used 360 family tracking device) and more importantly unable to call home if something went wrong and the phone box wasn’t working.

But there is a much more important part of the argument often ignored which the girls themselves made so eloquently and I took note of their comments.

All we are doing is keeping in touch and having fun, they said. We know there are dangerous people out there.

But why should we be banned because the owners can’t keep an eye on those who would cause us harm ? And there you have it in a nutshell.

Over this last month I have enjoyed keeping in touch on Facebook and Instagram. I have face-timed, WhatsApped and posted photos and festive messages.

I have answered queries about my business and home renovations and I have blocked a number of trolls.

I don’t do Twitter or X because I think it’s vile even more so now the new AI tool can undress any of us including children.

But to ban young people from what has become the norm in terms of communication means the platforms can and will continue to abdicate their responsibilities.

At home Keir Starmer is said to be considering banning X because the new application is in his and my view misogynistic and dangerous. So do it.

That’s the only thing that will hurt the Elon Musks of this world. And will be far more effective than banning a relatively small number because of their age.

In Australia the ban is not working. What’s more it is blaming those, especially the young, who use it responsibly for the failure of those who make money without taking responsibility for it’s content.

Technology is a wonderful thing. I am using it to send this column from half way around the world at no cost to me or the receiver.

And for many, including young people isolated in the outback in Australia, a connection to their friends and the outside world has been whipped away from them as if they are the irresponsible ones, rather than those who claim to but couldn’t give a damn about what they or us are reading.