Young Australians Fear Social Media Ban Will Isolate Vulnerable Youth and Cut Off Key Support | APT - video Dailymotion

APT

Australia is set to deactivate more than one million social media accounts belonging to teenagers under 16, aiming to protect mental health. But many young people fear the ban will isolate vulnerable groups — including LGBTQ+ youth and migrant teens — who rely on online communities for safety, support, and connection. Young Australians tell us why this ban worries them and what they fear comes next.  #Australia #SocialMediaBan #AustralianTeens

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00:00and then we're good i'm going to sleep no you're not i'm gonna hold your nose

00:06no i won't that's weird dude i was doing that but all that popped up was gay men okay

00:13i was sick and tired

00:14it's gonna be worse for like queer people and like people with like niche interests i guess

00:34because like that's the only way they can find their community and some people also use it to

00:40like vent their feelings and like talk to people to like get help or something so i feel like it

00:48would be fine for some people but for some people it would like worsen their mental health because

00:52you're sending the the like isolated alone people back like they are not gonna they might not figure

01:00out how to get the help they need because sometimes the google search isn't enough and like you're

01:06cutting off the people from like others who can potentially help them and like get sources to get

01:12help yeah many people now and even before now have been very attached to social media and some people

01:22use it as like a lifeline for like escaping reality and like entering digital world

01:30good morning everything good morning do you like to play and have fun

01:37boom that feels finding a community that like accepts you as a person and like

01:45what you are whether as online you find more people that like understand you and um they just like

01:54get you more

02:17i did i faced a lot of backlash pretty heavily um i got bullied pretty badly which is terrible and

02:24disgusting but it was what i was experiencing at that time um slurs being yelled at me things being

02:31thrown at me i was followed home at points and it was hard it was hard trying to navigate finding

02:37myself but also finding a safe space to be myself school didn't help at all

02:42it's a cute skirt why'd you get it

02:56for me it was my community and my lifeline social media was the place that i went to when i needed

03:01people to talk to who understood me obviously being a young queer person in a pretty small school with

03:06less than 600 it was difficult to find people who understood what i was going through but could also

03:11relate and help me in those situations and i was so fortunate to find a community of people online

03:16who not only understood my struggles but could help me through them and i could talk to and i'm still

03:21friends with most of them to this day from not only all across australia but all across the world

03:41they are mixed in their view and opinion i think there's definitely can be some benefits of restricting

04:00or reducing their reliance on social media for their well-being we know that social media can be

04:07an avenue of harm for young people in terms of things like unrealistic body image for example or

04:13exposure to bullying or predators online so there's those influences that will be reduced

04:20on the other side what we're concerned about is that young people still have mechanisms and avenues for

04:25connection and for help seeking

04:39if you think about a young person who might be living in a rural or remote community who may identify as

04:44part of the lgbtqi plus community for example and or be part of a multicultural community and or might

04:51live with a disability those sorts of the more marginalized you can become the less likely you

04:56might be able to have people around you that you feel understand you look like you are interested in

05:02the same things and it's those people i think that are starting to feel concerned that where they find

05:08connection online might not be as easy to find offline suicide in something called suicide postvention

05:15which aims to go in support those communities and reduce it's all it's the job of growing up is to

05:21explore your identity and if you don't have safe places to do that then isolation distress can escalate

05:28really quite quickly i thought you were all pictures but i was like no it looks like she's on discord

05:37she said but we have to get our nails done today i don't care this is a one in a life

05:45for me personally it's slightly problematic because you're basically isolated for about six

05:58weeks during the school holidays um during the start of it i think i won't be as dependent on social

06:06media as i will be hanging out as i will be socializing with family um but as it continues on

06:14um i will probably like feel more attached to social media

06:32this one and this one like this one i think yeah like start of the school year maybe because that's

06:38when people are actually like out and about at school they can talk to each other it was it's

06:44kind of an unfortunate time to do this my biggest thing is that if somebody can go get a piercing

06:57can go get a job can go get their own medicare card can get a tax file number can go take their

07:03driver's knowledge test before the age of 16 and they can do all of these things with trust that they're

07:08responsible enough to handle it and advocate for themselves if it becomes too much how can we then

07:13say they can't hold a social media account uh uh can i get a can i get a uh go go

07:25i've already said i'm good

07:38so

07:43there

07:43i

07:45i

07:54i

Young Australians Fear Social Media Ban Will Isolate Vulnerable Youth and Cut Off Key Support | APT

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