GS Paper - III

Australia becomes the first country to ban social media for under-16s, with bipartisan support in both parliamentary chambers. Its aim to prevent young teens from creating social media accounts protecting them from the adverse effects of excessive digital exposure.

Negative Impacts of Social Media on Teenagers

Sleep Disturbances

• Cause: Blue light from screens disrupts melatonin production.
• Effects: Chronic sleep deprivation, daytime drowsiness, emotional instability, and heightened stress levels.

Attention Problems

• Cause: Constant digital engagement reduces focus.
• Effects: Difficulty concentrating on schoolwork or non-digital activities, leading to reduced productivity.

Impaired Social Skills

• Cause: Lack of real-life interactions.
• Effects: Poor development of empathy, understanding of social cues, and ability to build meaningful relationships.

Decreased Academic Performance

• Cause: Time spent on social media replacing study time.
• Effects: Multitasking habits impact assignment completion and lower academic results.

Increased Aggression

• Cause: Exposure to violent and provocative online content.
• Effects: Aggressive behavior, cyberbullying, online arguments and feelings of isolation or self-doubt.

Prevalence of Social Media Use

• Nearly 40% of children aged 8-12 use social media despite age restrictions.
• 95% of teens aged 13-17 are active users (US Surgeon General Report).

Australia’s Example

• Seen as a bold experiment to prioritize children's mental health and safety in the digital era.
• Global experts are monitoring its impact for potential replication in other nations.

Age Verification Technologies

Australia is exploring multiple methods to verify users' ages while prioritizing privacy and security. These will be tested during a trial phase (January-March 2025) involving 1,200 randomly selected Australians. Options include:

Biometric Age Estimation

• How It Works: Users upload a video selfie. AI analyses age-related features, processes the data, and deletes it immediately after age estimation.
• Advantages: Minimal data retention; user-friendly.
• Challenges: Risk of being bypassed with appearance-altering filters.

Document-Based Verification

• How It Works: Users upload documents (e.g., passport or birth certificate) to a third-party service, which verifies age and generates a token.
• Advantages: Robust verification through official documents.
• Challenges: Limited accessibility for teens without formal IDs; potential for fake document use.

Data-Based Age Inference

• How It Works: Analyses user metadata, such as email addresses and account activities, cross-referencing it with known user behavior.
• Advantages: Non-intrusive and scalable.
• Challenges: Lower accuracy compared to direct biometric or document verification.