EFFECTS NOT CLEAR FOR A DECADE
Naturally, laws that “ban” things often have unintended or even detrimental consequences. When mandatory bicycle helmet laws were introduced in Australia in the early 1990s, one result was that some people simply cycled less.
The new study in the British Medical Journal reflects this, with small numbers of young people turning to fake accounts, private browsing or messaging apps. Some may drift to less visible corners of the internet that are harder to watch than the mainstream platforms.
We shouldn’t take this to mean the ban is a failure. It means we are judging it on a timeline that does not fit its design.
The researchers make the point themselves: The greatest opportunity may lie with children under eight who have not yet started using social media, rather than teenagers whose habits are already set, whose norms are to use social media.
By their estimate, the full effects may not be clear for a decade.
Australia has volunteered to be the world’s test case, with other countries now following. To do the social media age restrictions justice, we should test the right thing.
Samuel Cornell is an Honorary Research Fellow in Public Health and The University of Queensland. This article first appeared on The Conversation.
