00:00So, what have you found?
00:02Oh, I mean, our Zen kit,
00:04it's about half what the celebrities are using it in.
00:07These students are learning to make sense of what they see online...
00:11Because she's getting paid to do that.
00:13..in a class that delves into real-life issues.
00:16Has AI created the image?
00:18Is that image actually real?
00:20Or is it, you know, the deep fakes that you hear about now as well?
00:23They're the kinds of questions policymakers say children
00:26and young people shouldn't have to contemplate.
00:28Social media companies haven't fulfilled their responsibility
00:31to ensure that young people aren't getting access to harmful content.
00:35Now, if social media companies aren't going to do their job,
00:37then that invites a response from government.
00:40A response proposing to ban children 13 and under
00:44from using social media.
00:4614- and 15-year-olds would need parental consent.
00:49The SA Premier revealed his plans in September,
00:52draft laws his Commonwealth counterparts have taken on board.
00:56We will be introducing legislation this year
00:59to mandate a minimum age for access to social media.
01:02I was expecting everyone to go, like,
01:04no, like, that's such a bad idea, why should they have to do that?
01:08But most of us were like, no,
01:10that's actually going to protect a lot of people.
01:13I wasn't really living my childhood.
01:1613-year-old Eloise Carell went on a one-month detox from TikTok
01:20after spending three hours a day on the platform.
01:23I felt, like, more connected to, like, everything in a weird way.
01:28And I just...my overall...
01:32..like, overall health and happiness was a lot higher.
01:35The federal government wants state and territory buy-in
01:38on a ban for children aged up to 16,
01:41but it's also left the door open to a softer approach,
01:44such as parental permissions.
01:46But enforcing age restrictions online isn't easy.
01:50The government is trialling age-assurance technology,
01:53hoping to put that responsibility back on the social media companies.
01:58Currently, social media platforms do have minimum ages
02:02in their terms of service.
02:03The issue is that it's not enforced.
02:05I don't think it's very good policy.
02:07I think it's taking a kind of blunt instrument
02:10and applying it to a very complex situation.
02:14Professor Michael Desuani says age-assurance technology
02:18could breach children's privacy.
02:20We should actually be requiring the digital platforms to do more
02:24to create a better social media environment for children.
02:27That's not just about having parental controls and so on.
02:31It's about actually producing content and experiences
02:34that are appropriate for children.
02:37TikTok and Snapchat point out they already banned children under 13,
02:41with TikTok saying it removed
02:43one million suspected underage Australian accounts last year.
02:47X says the site is not the platform of choice for minors.
02:51Teen content creativity.
02:53While the politicians weigh up their decision,
02:55these teens are making some big decisions of their own.
02:59I kind of made a rule for myself.
03:01Whenever I'm at my grandparents' house, I put, like,
03:03I don't touch my phone,
03:04because obviously one day they are going to be gone
03:06and I'm not going to regret being on my phone.
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