Teen social media ban impacts should include mental and physical health, school performance, experts argue

Australia's new ban on social media for under-16s should be judged on much more than whether adolescents stay offline, researchers say. Experts from Flinders University say success of the policy should be measured by its impact on young people's mental health, school performance, digital literacy, and how they spend their time outside of social media. They also warn that restricting access may have limited impact unless social media platforms themselves are required to build safer environments to prevent young users from accessing harmful content.