about the Australia social media ban.
I've been pretty quiet on this so far, not making any posts about it or even mentioning it. but I feel like I should talk about it.
some of you may know, some of you may not - Australia is banning social media for everyone under the age of 16. no exceptions.
sites included will be TikTok, Snap, Insta, Facebook, X, and Youtube. yes, you heard me, Youtube. Tumblr and possibly Pinterest may be included, but as of current times nothing is confirmed.
originally, this wasn't going to impact me - until they roped Tumblr and possibly Pinterest into it. I'm going to lose access to my account on both sites if theyre included in the ban.
but some people will lose everything. there are teens relying on social media to socialise. to keep contact with their only friends, to make them have connections in the world, make them not feel alone.
the ban will cause danger to some kids. I've met people out there that use social media as a cry for help, whether theyre in abusive households, contemplating harmful actions, and the list goes on.
teenagers will cry over losing their friends. losing their only contacts. theyll be devastated. some will harm themselves. others may kill themselves. I'm not joking. this situation is serious.
some will find ways to get around the ban, cheat the system. but others wont, and theyll be devastated.
but yes, kids and teenagers are smart. we will find ways around this.
we'll get our older friends and family to say the account is theirs.
we'll wear makeup to make us appear older to the ai face scanners.
we'll use VPNs to make it look like we're in a whole different country.
but not all will be so lucky or smart. this is a serious situation, and we need to fight for it. fight for our rights. fight for our freedom. fight to not be treated like defenceless little kids.
please spread the word. tell friends and family to let them know the good outweighs the bad. that this will cause more harm than good.
Australian teens deserve a voice in our lives.