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Debate: Social media in children and young people – time for a ban? Beyond the ban – empowering parents and schools to keep adolescents safe on social media
Open accessAbstract
In this article, we examine Australia's landmark decision to ban social media access for children under the age of 16, set to take effect in December 2025. While the legislation aims to protect young people from the harms of social media, including its impact on mental health and wellbeing, the evidence base underpinning the ban remains inconclusive, with most studies unable to establish causality. Drawing on parallels with adolescent alcohol prevention, we argue that prohibition alone is unlikely to be effective. Instead, we advocate for a harm minimisation approach that equips young people with digital literacy, resilience, and help‐seeking skills. We highlight the essential roles of parents, schools, and adolescents in fostering safer social media use and call for inclusive, co‐designed education initiatives.
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Evidence regarding the effectiveness and broader impacts of restrictive or ban-based approaches to adolescent social media use remains evolving and contested.
“Evidence regarding the effectiveness and broader impacts of restrictive or ban-based approaches to adolescent SMU also remains evolving and contested [59-61].”
From The Complex and Multifaceted Nature of Social Media: Perspectives From Young Adolescents, Parents and Experts (2026) · cites this paper as [60]
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Cites
Social media use and its impact on adolescent mental health: An umbrella review of the evidence.
Valkenburg, P. M., Meier, A., & Beyens, I. (2022) · Current opinion in psychology · doi:10.1016/j.copsyc.2021.08.017 · Cited by 767 · cited 1×
“While some research links adolescent social media use with mental health problems, systematic reviews and meta-analyses show that overall, these associations are weak and inconsistent across studies (Valkenburg et al., 2022).”
100 Years of "Just Say No" Versus "Just Say Know"
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Teesson, M., Newton, N. C., Slade, T. N., Carragher, N., Barrett, E. L., Champion, K. E., Kelly, E. V., Nair, N. K., Stapinski, L. A., & Conrod, P. (2017) · Psychological Medicine · doi:10.1017/s0033291717000198 · Cited by 76
Self-citationMaheux, A. J., Burnell, K., Maza, M. T., Fox, K. A., Telzer, E. H., & Prinstein, M. J. (2024) · Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry · doi:10.1111/jcpp.14085 · Cited by 66
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Self-citationOsborne, A. (2025) · Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health · doi:10.1186/s13034-025-00951-z · Cited by 11
Champion, K. E., Hunter, E., Gardner, L. A., Thornton, L. K., Chapman, C., McCann, K., Spring, B. J., Slade, T. N., Teesson, M., & Newton, N. C. (2023) · JMIR Pediatrics and Parenting · doi:10.2196/42272 · Cited by 10
Self-citationSmall effects, big questions: the unfinished business of social media restriction science
Thimm-Kaiser, M., & Keyes, K. M. (2025) · SSM - Mental Health · doi:10.1016/j.ssmmh.2025.100467 · Cited by 2
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Beyond the debate: toward pragmatic evaluation of Australia's social media age restrictions
Stevens, M. W. R., Radünz, M., Király, O., Griffiths, M. D., Delfabbro, P., Demetrovics, Z., Czakó, A., & King, D. L. (2026) · The Lancet Regional Health - Western Pacific · doi:10.1016/j.lanwpc.2026.101818 · Cited by 5
Galanis, P., Katsiroumpa, A., & Moisoglou, I. (2026) · Social Sciences · doi:10.3390/socsci15060404 · Cited by 2
Climate change and social health
Bower, M., Filia, K., Lawrance, E., Card, K. G., Teesson, L., Smout, S., Gao, C., Naderpajouh, N., Donohoe‐Bales, A., Lagi, R., et al. (2026) · Nature Human Behaviour · doi:10.1038/s41562-026-02455-y · Cited by 1
Self-citationEditorial: Standing up for science – open science versus dis‐information
Dubicka, B. (2025) · Child and Adolescent Mental Health · doi:10.1111/camh.70035 · Cited by 1
Branch-Smith, C., Hurley, D., & Salehi, N. (2026) · Health & Social Care in the Community · doi:10.1155/hsc/9924586
Hu, Y., Chi, X., Lu, Z., He, Y., Saiding, A., & Liu, D. (2025) · doi:10.2196/preprints.104386
Özçiftci, V. M., & Demir, M. (2026) · BMC Medical Ethics · doi:10.1186/s12910-026-01473-9 · Cited by 1
Stiles‐Shields, C., Gustafson, E. L., Shenberger, E., Quezada, N., Bobadilla, G., Smith, D. N., & Emezue, C. (2026) · Frontiers in Developmental Psychology · doi:10.3389/fdpys.2026.1740373
Social media ban for children: What Greek young adults believe and whyPreprint
Katsiroumpa, A., Moisoglou, I., Galani, O., Tsiachri, M., Triantafillaki, A., Peleka, P., & Galanis, P. (2026) · Research Square · doi:10.21203/rs.3.rs-10162556/v1
Gampe, H., Rainer, L. J., Plattner, B., & Winds, K. (2026) · Children · doi:10.3390/children13070875
Marchant, A. L., Lewis, F., Siddiqi, M., & John, A. M. (2026) · Journal of Medical Internet Research · doi:10.2196/73343
Young minds in distress: Exploring the global rise in youth mental health diagnoses
Chiang, H., Chien, Y., & Gau, S. S. (2026) · Molecular Psychiatry · doi:10.1038/s41380-026-03884-x
Social Media Use Motives and Mental Health Among Adolescents: Cross-Sectional Study
Lian, J., Künzi, M., Andrews, J. L., Gallacher, J., & Bauermeister, S. (2026) · JMIR Mental Health · doi:10.2196/111020
Could Australia’s Social Media Ban for Minors Help Revive a Shrivelling Wine Industry?
Fuentes, S., Viejo, C. G., Wain, A., Cowley, I., Xynas, B., & Barnes, C. D. (2026) · Australian Journal of Grape and Wine Research · doi:10.1155/ajgw/3927152
Metadata
- Authors
- Champion, K. E., Birrell, L., Smout, S., Teesson, M., & Slade, T.
- Affiliations
- The University of Sydney (AU)
- Corresponding author
- Champion, Katrina E.
- Venue
- Child and Adolescent Mental Health
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2025-09-10
- Volume
- 30
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 411-413
- ISSN
- 1475-357X (ISSN-L)
- 1475-3588
- PMC
- PMC12573062
- OpenAlex
- W4414138193
- Cited by
- 14
- References
- 10
- Citations by year
- 2026: 12 · 2025: 2
- FWCI
- 24.22
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Child and Adolescent Mental Health (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- University of Sydney
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Impact of Technology on Adolescents
- Social Sciences › Education › Child Development and Digital Technology
- Social Sciences › Education › Literacy, Media, and Education
- Keywords
- social media ban, children under 16, adolescent mental health, harm reduction, digital literacy, resilience, parental involvement, school education, social media safety
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Adolescent Behavior, Australia, Child, Humans, Parents, Schools, Social Media
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