I regret joining social media. In the five years since I first signed up, aged 13, I’ve had many positive experiences. But even with those, on balance, social media has had an overwhelmingly negative impact on my life.
Raising age restrictions on social media would likely help some Australian teenagers with comparison culture and the normalisation of filters. Credit: iStock And now, as an 18-year-old, I’m so wrapped up in it, using multiple platforms as my main form of communication, quitting would mean losing many connections. Yet even knowing that, I agree with the push – backed by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese – to introduce a social media ban for Australian children aged under 16 .
A ban would protect young people from getting caught up in a world that’s hard to escape; it would also tackle the problem experts have identified as the rapidly declining mental health of young Australians . As I said, I’ve had my ups and downs with social media. In high school, I reached a point where I would cover the mirror in my bedroom with a sheet of paper to avoid seeing my own reflection.
The only time I willingly looked at myself was through the lens of Snapchat, with a beauty filter applied. One time, when the beauty filter wouldn’t work, I remember staring at myself in the camera and breaking down crying over the reality of my appearance. Why couldn’t my face be as perfect as the ones I was seeing on my phone? It’s natural for a teenager to have self-doubts and t.
