Australia's Social Media Ban Is Failing. (thats not my opinion, thats a fact) The Solution Isn't Better Technology. It's Somewhere to Be.
Jun 27, 2026
Australia became the first country in the world to ban children under 16 from social media. The law came into force in December 2025. PM Albanese stood in front of cameras and said it was about protecting kids.
Yesterday, June 26, 2026, his government announced plans to strengthen the ban, because it isn't working.
The eSafety Commissioner's own data, released in March, showed that seven in ten underage children still hold accounts on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok. A BMJ study published this week found 85% of Australian 12 to 17 year olds are using restricted platforms.
The ban is, in the words of one RMIT University researcher, "a really failed exercise."
Here's the thing about telling a teenager they can't have something...the research on that is pretty clear too. Restriction without replacement doesn't work particularly well. Humans (including small ones with developing prefrontal cortices) tend to find a way around barriers, especially digital ones.
What actually changes behaviour is having something more compelling available.
I'm not saying don't have the ban. Limiting the reach of algorithmic content optimised to maximise engagement at the cost of adolescent mental health seems like a pretty reasonable policy goal. But enforcement alone is fighting a losing battle.
The question worth asking is: what are we offering instead?
Let's not be naive about what social media provides. Kids aren't on Instagram for the carefully curated content. They're there because that's where their social life happens. Where they feel seen. Where they get the continuous low level reassurance that they exist and are liked.
That's not pathetic... it's human. The problem isn't that kids want connection..it's that apps designed to maximise engagement have colonised the particular vulnerability of adolescent brains that desperately need it.
The way to compete with that isn't a government fine. It's a place that provides genuine belonging, real social connection, and the kind of earned confidence that no algorithm can manufacture.
The University of Newcastle's Global Sport and Movement Collaborative published research earlier this year reviewing 189 studies on sport and youth mental health. They found that organised sport provides exactly what social media is trying to simulate but can never actually deliver.
Belonging. Peer connection. Confidence from mastering real skills. A social environment with structure and genuine relationships.
The difference is that these outcomes are real and lasting, built through physical presence and effort, not generated by an engagement algorithm.
You can't scroll your way to self esteem. But you can earn it.
When parents come to me and say their kid is on their phone constantly, spending hours on social media, losing sleep, getting anxious..I hear it as a description of a kid who hasn't found their thing yet. Their somewhere to be. Their people.
Some of those kids end up at Geelong Boxing Club. And within a few weeks, something starts to shift.
It's not magic. It's just what happens when a person, young or otherwise, is physically challenged, socially engaged, progressively getting better at something real, and surrounded by people who notice and care whether they show up.
That is hard to compete with. Even Instagram has not cracked the code on replicating the feeling of landing a combination correctly for the first time, with a coach who you respect telling you that was good.
Australia's social media problem is real. The government is going to keep tweaking the legislation, and platforms are going to keep doing the bare minimum, and enforcement is going to keep being messy.
In the meantime, the most effective intervention available to you as a parent is remarkably low tech: get your kid somewhere physical, structured, social, and challenging. Somewhere with a human coach. Somewhere where progress is visible and relationships are real.
That's what sport does. It's what boxing does. It's what we do.
Our youth programs at Geelong Boxing Club start from age 5. The question I get asked most often is whether boxing is safe for kids. The answer is yes..our youth programs are non contact and fully structured. The second most common question is whether it's too intense. The answer is: as intense as the kid wants it to be.
We meet them where they are. Is it right for all kids? No.
I recommend reaching out and starting a conversation about what your child seems to need and what you are looking for & I will ALWAYS be honest about whether we would be a good fit.
Source: Associated Press / NPR (June 26, 2026). "Australia plans to strengthen laws banning children from social media." Read the article. eSafety Commissioner social media age restrictions evaluation: esafety.gov.au.
