Australia is often caught between two contradictory impulses. The first is its desire to be viewed as a creative middle power – to advance positive ideas into the global system and use its diplomatic nous and the power of example to institutionalize these ideas.
But the second is the country’s lack of confidence. Australia often struggles to see itself as a capable, independent country.
In December, the Australian government put into force a new policy driven by the desire to be a creative middle power, but also, at a fundamental level, seeking to address the country’s lack of confidence.
Australia’s social media restrictions for children under the age of 16 might not seem like it has such grand ambitions. But as world-leading laws they demonstrate Australia’s desire to be at the forefront of addressing the pitfalls of one of the most consequential shifts in how people organize themselves and understand the world, as well as tackling the unchecked power that large technology companies have amassed.
Following Australia’s lead, Malaysia, New Zealand, and several European countries are all considering implementing similar laws. Eight states in the United States have created laws that restrict usage for minors to varying degrees. There is now a growing understanding of how social media algorithms are designed to promote content that is a negative influence, and that young minds (and older minds, too) are susceptible to this influence.
Of course, many teenagers will find workarounds to these laws, but the objective is not a perfect enforcement of online behavior. The laws don’t ban children from social media per se, but seek to prevent them from having accounts on these platforms. The idea is to try to disconnect the business relationship between technology companies and youngsters, weakening the algorithmic effects. The law is also designed to create greater social awareness of the harms that these platforms are doing to developing minds.
The harms that these platforms are producing are becoming more widely understood. These include the relentless comparisons that social media sites encourage, which has created spikes in anxiety, depression, and self harm, especially among girls. Beyond this, the skills that children need to develop for the real world are weakened by the nature of social media. Conflict resolution, social cooperation, respect for difference, independence, imagination, and face-to-face friendships are all undermined by the online realm.
Alongside this, social media encourages exposure to content and ideas that children may not have developed the emotional and cognitive capabilities to navigate. Social media thrives on a world of hyper-partisan politics, weakening people’s ability to develop critical thinking and media literacy skills. It is imperative that children and teenagers develop the ability to scrutinize issues on their own merit, not be socialized into the cynical world of misinformation and politics simply as an aggressive team sport.
These laws, in a way, are an investment in the country’s social stability. Technology companies have no real commitment to liberal democracy ideals when they conflict with keeping people engaged on their platforms. Australia takes its democracy very seriously, and values its social stability highly. The recent threats to social cohesion in the country from the Bondi shooting will haunt the country for years, and will most likely lead to governments in Australia thinking more thoroughly about how social cohesion can be advanced. The corrosive effects of social media are one component to confront.
Negating the harms of social media goes to the heart of the greater ambition of these laws. They are built on a recognition that the capabilities of each individual in the country compound up into national capabilities. If Australia cannot produce confident, resilient, capable, and cooperative youngsters, then it cannot be a confident, resilient, capable, and cooperative country in the future.
The rapid advancement of communications technology in the 21st century has left the world playing catch-up to its effects. Social media has clearly been a beast we have unleashed onto ourselves without a thorough understanding of what it would create – on individual, political, and geopolitical levels. While governments are now seeking to respond, it is clear that many parents have understood these negative effects for a while.
Australia can be proud to be leading the world in addressing these issues. It is fulfilling its role as a creative middle power – to recognize a global problem and seek to be the country that takes responsibility for finding solutions. By doing so Australia is also making a strong investment in its domestic capabilities, hoping to create the conditions that will give the country the confidence to be an even more effective creative middle power in the future.
Image credit: Shutterstock ID: 2637412595. This article was originally published in The Diplomat.
Grant Wyeth
Grant Wyeth is a Melbourne-based political analyst specializing in Australia and the Pacific, India and Canada.