What does Australia’s social media ban mean for adolescent mental health?

Date published: 15.12.2025

Last week, Australia’s under-16s lost access to their social media, with Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X, YouTube, Snapchat, Reddit and Kick all being covered by the ban. Campaigners and the government argue that the law is necessary to protect children from harmful content and algorithms that encourage them to spend more time on screens.

Adolescence is a time of extreme transition and change, both physically and emotionally, as young people turn from child to adult and try to navigate the challenges that come with this. It’s a period of becoming more independent, discovering who they are, the world they live in, and how to make their way in it. We are now seeing the first generation of young people go through this transition while also trying to navigate the online world.

In the 2024 book, The Anxious Generation, author Jonathan Haidt explored the relationship between the rise of smartphone use among children and young people during the 2010s. Since then, the average time young people spend with friends in person has plummeted by 65%.¹

Haidt argues that by “designing a firehose of addictive content that entered through kids’ eyes and ears... these companies have rewired childhood and changed human development on an almost unimaginable scale”.

Replacing human contact with online

It’s not just what young people are doing online, it’s what they’re not doing while they're staring at a screen.

Things like infinite scroll, Snapstreaks, likes and comments all trigger our brain's dopamine circuits in a similar way to that of slot machine gambling.² Children's brains, which are not yet fully developed, are particularly vulnerable to this, and those aged 5 to 15 are now spending an average of 5 hours and 24 minutes per day on social media.³

Adolescence can be an incredibly lonely time, especially for those who may not fit in at school or at home. With social media, young people can find friends from across the world helping them feel less lonely or less of an outcast, providing validation and connection. For those who struggle socially, social media can be a great way to practice social skills and build confidence in themselves. But online friends cannot replace real-life ones.

Increasingly, young people are withdrawing from the real world. This is a time when they could be hanging out with their family and friends, playing, reading, kicking a ball – vital real-world activities and relationships that enable young people to learn the life skills they need to transition into adulthood.

Alongside this, the long arm of the pandemic is still massively affecting young people’s social development as they’ve been hugely impacted by the isolation they experienced. The pandemic normalised online connection and many young people are struggling to reconnect in person.

One 17-year-old said, “Not leaving the house and then having to try and get used to being in public again, and going to school, definitely contributed to my anxiety being a lot worse.”⁴

As the Children's Commissioner for England, Rachel de Souza, said, we’re experiencing a “tsunami” of child mental health problems since lockdown, with one in five now struggling with their mental health.

Self-identity and the algorithm

During the adolescent period, young people are discovering who they are. Personalities, sexuality, gender identity, and political views are all being formed as they begin to make sense of their world. Only now, there is a whole other host of opinions available to them through social media. They may find solace in online accounts that share their feelings and views. However, this can also be a breeding ground for normalising extreme behaviours.

The types of posts that we see when scrolling through social media are in the hands of algorithms rather than people. Algorithms lead young people towards certain types of content, often without their consent or awareness, based on what they engage with. For adolescents online, extremist views or thoughts they have are not being challenged but reinforced. Plus, the online world differs massively depending on your gender.

Research by UCL and the University of Kent experimented with setting up TikTok accounts, mimicking the interests of teenage boys. They detected a four-fold increase in the level of misogynistic content suggested by TikTok over a five-day period, as the algorithm offered them more extreme videos, often focused on anger and blame directed at women.⁵

Girls in the UK are much more likely to see posts relating to body image, including content promoting excessive or unhealthy eating/exercise (19% vs 9%) and eating disorder-related content (17% vs 5%).⁶

An uncertain future

There is more to the story than just social media itself. At the Brent Centre, we work in some of the most deprived areas of London. The patients we see are experiencing negative emotions due to a whole host of other factors.

Student debt has surged nearly sixfold in just 12 years, from £40 billion in 2012 to £236 billion in 2024, and the average UK rent has risen by 46% since 2015, with most of that increase occurring since late 2021.⁷ It’s no wonder that so many feel hopeless about their future.

What isn’t covered by the ban?

Social media is not the only source of harmful online content. AI chatbots, dating sites, forums and online gaming are all not covered by the ban.

A survey of boys in secondary schools by Male Allies UK found that just over a third said they were considering the idea of an AI friend, with growing concern about the rise of AI therapists and girlfriends.⁸ One in four teenagers in the UK are turning to AI chatbots for mental health support.⁹ There’s also growing concern that online games are being created by extremists to promote radical ideas, and gaming chatrooms give adults unregulated contact with minors. Ultimately, there is much more out there than social media that poses a threat to young people’s safety.

It will be interesting to see how Australia's population navigate this ban. There will, of course, be those who find a way around it, but the ban sets out a precedent that will certainly deter some and send a clear message to others. Perhaps, more importantly, it will give parents and adults a boundary which validates their anxiety about online risk and also gives young people themselves something to push against.

Contact: Helen Browne, Communications & Marketing Executive - 07904103002