Australia’s under-16 social media restrictions have failed to remove many teenagers from the platforms they were intended to leave, according to broadcaster and author Madonna King, who interviewed 300 young people for her new book on the impact of screens.
Ms King said children had routinely bypassed the rules by changing their dates of birth, creating new accounts or passing age-checking systems. She argued that the debate had focused too narrowly on social media while overlooking the wider effects of gaming, messaging services, artificial intelligence and other screen-based technologies.
“Social media is only a tiny part of the screen pie,” she said. “We’re ignoring the damage often done by so many other screens in our lives.”
Australia’s social media minimum-age rules took effect on 10 December 2025, requiring major platforms to take reasonable steps to prevent children under 16 from creating or keeping accounts. The responsibility rests with the companies rather than children or their parents, and platforms can face penalties of up to A$54.6 million if they fail to comply. ([esafety.gov.au](https://www.esafety.gov.au/parents/social-media-age-restrictions))
Evidence published by Australia’s eSafety Commissioner suggests the restrictions have reduced account ownership, but have not stopped most under-16s from using social media. The proportion of children holding an account fell from 52.4 per cent to 42.1 per cent in the first three months, while 81.5 per cent still reported using a social media platform either with or without an account. ([esafety.gov.au](https://www.esafety.gov.au/newsroom/media-releases/early-insights-from-esafetys-comprehensive-evaluation-project))
The regulator also found that most under-16s who already had accounts before the rules began were able either to retain them or create new ones. It said ineffective age-assurance systems were the main reason, while stressing that the findings alone did not determine whether platforms had broken the law. ([esafety.gov.au](https://www.esafety.gov.au/newsroom/media-releases/early-insights-from-esafetys-comprehensive-evaluation-project))
Ms King said the findings supported her conclusion that the policy had not worked as intended. The eSafety Commissioner has identified five platforms for potential compliance issues, with investigations continuing into whether their systems and processes amounted to “reasonable steps”. ([esafety.gov.au](https://www.esafety.gov.au/about-us/industry-regulation/social-media-age-restrictions-hub))
The wider impact of screens on children
For younger children, Ms King said the consequences of excessive screen use could be seen in classrooms and family life. Teachers told her that pupils were finding it harder to concentrate, practise difficult tasks and tolerate frustration.
Some primary schools, she said, were breaking lessons into three-minute sections to hold pupils’ attention. She also described children becoming accustomed to immediate rewards and struggling to persist with activities that demanded sustained effort.
Ms King said children themselves understood the problem. One teenager told her: “I know it’s brain-rot but I keep scrolling.” Others described being unable to work a shift, play sport or spend time with friends without repeatedly checking their phones.
She said the most positive effect of the age restrictions had been among children who had not yet joined social media. Some parents were using the law to resist pressure to give young children accounts on Instagram or Snapchat.
“That’s the gold in this law,” Ms King said. “There is a growing community of parents saying ‘no’.”
She warned, however, that parental example remained a major obstacle, with teenagers noticing adults telling them to put their phones away while continuing to scroll themselves.
Artificial intelligence was another concern. Ms King said some children were using it constructively, including one pupil who created a German-language wartime spy game that significantly improved his vocabulary. Others, she said, were outsourcing basic judgement and problem-solving to chatbots.
One 14-year-old had asked an AI system how to invite a girl to a school dance. Ms King said other children were turning to AI for advice about personal issues that might previously have been discussed with parents, teachers, counsellors or doctors.
Her concerns extend beyond attention and learning. Ms King said social media could expose boys to misogynistic material with alarming speed, while pornography was becoming more violent, sexist and racist. She also warned about the use of location-sharing services such as Snap Maps and Life360 by teenagers in relationships and friendship groups.
Police and schools, she said, were concerned that constant tracking could contribute to coercive behaviour and disputes among pupils. A child discovering that friends were together without them could quickly become the focus of a wider school conflict.
Ms King’s conclusion is not that all technology is harmful. Used carefully, she said, screens and AI could support education, communication and healthcare. But she argued that children needed more time to develop concentration, resilience and independent judgement before becoming immersed in services designed to keep them online.
