Fix the house: On social media, social media access

The more wicked the problem, the more the people yearn for a simpler solution. This tendency has complicated the public debate on how and how much social media harm teenagers. While the idea that these platforms were stoking a mental health crisis prevailed in several countries for long, researchers have now adopted a more cautious stance. Social media use and mental health are clearly associated — more so among girls — but how much of that is actually causal and in what circumstances is still being debated. Recently, Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke favourably of Australia’s decision, in 2024, to ban social media access for those aged 16 and below. His words augur a similar ban in India, one that Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka have publicly mulled as well. However, Australian psychologists, digital health researchers, child-rights scholars, and online safety experts have criticised the ban because, while there is a credible body of evidence linking social media use and harm among children, evidence of a link between an age-based access ban and better mental health has been lacking. In the absence of a real-world precedent, Australia has effectively been conducting a natural experiment. And research has estimated that around 85% of 12-16-year-olds still use social media platforms.

While some psychologists and advocacy groups have argued that waiting for perfect evidence to act would recreate the mistake governments made with tobacco, many experts believe that the state should drop the ban and instead adopt a stronger duty of care, include digital literacy in school education, restrict addictive user interfaces/experiences, mandate a chronological feed for minors, enforce stronger content moderation, improve privacy protections, and introduce effective parental controls. Most studies of adolescent harm due to social media have also been observational and thus susceptible to reverse causation (depressed teenagers may spend more time online) and smaller average effects; experts have also noted that hours per day is less explanatory than passive versus active engagement, participation in supportive versus hostile communities, and so on. Indeed, while social media use can disrupt sleep and increase exposure to cyber-bullying, addictive recommendation patterns, and content about self-harm and eating disorders, it can also help maintain friendships and explore one’s identity, offer peer support, and increase access to LGBTQIA+ communities and mental health information. The overall picture is mixed and the solutions are not simple. However, the first step could be: rather than regulate ‘who may enter’, governments should change how platforms operate.