JAMES BIRT: Social media ban will see kids switch from feeds to Fortnite’s ‘digital parks’

Meta’s early removal of under-16 accounts ahead of Australia’s new age-verification rules has caused understandable concern among families.

Many parents and teens worry about what losing access to major social apps will mean for connection, creativity and everyday communication.

But the delay will not disconnect young people. What it will do is make their online social world far more visible to adults who have never stepped inside it.

For years, research including Australia Plays and eSafety’s youth insights has shown that young people already spend much of their social time outside traditional feeds.

They still use Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat for entertainment, expression and updates, but they rarely have their deeper conversations there.

Those happen in video game worlds and communication platforms that adults often dismiss as “just gaming”.

Minecraft, Roblox and Fortnite function less like video games and more like digital parks.

Friends meet there, explore together, build things side by side and drift between conversations with ease.

These are the online spaces where kids unwind after school, chat about their day or simply hang out without the pressure of performing for an audience.

This difference is important. Social media is built around visibility, game worlds are built around participation.

Young people often use both, but for entirely different reasons. And when social media becomes harder to access, it is natural that they will gravitate even more strongly toward the environments that already feel comfortable and low-pressure.

This does not make video game worlds perfect or risk-free. They contain in-game spending, persuasive design and varying levels of moderation. But many platforms also include strong safety tools, private server options and controls that allow young people to customise who they interact with.

The challenge is not that these environments are inherently unsafe. It is that many adults have never seen how they actually work.

Discord is another part of this ecosystem. It acts as a communication hub, a set of digital rooms where young people talk while they play or collaborate.

Its safety depends heavily on how each server is configured, which can feel unfamiliar to parents who rely on monitoring tools designed for social media alone.

Some teenagers will likely explore workarounds to keep accessing social apps, whether through VPNs or alternate accounts.

This behaviour is not new. Young people have always adapted quickly to digital rules.

The bigger question is how we support them in understanding different online environments, and how adults develop the literacy needed to guide them.

This is where education comes in. If game worlds are where young people collaborate, create and talk, then digital literacy programs need to recognise the differences between platforms built for visibility and those built for participation.

It also means understanding the design of each space: how privacy tools work, how reporting mechanisms function and how social dynamics shift depending on the environment.

Parents do not need to become gamers to be involved. Gentle engagement at the edges often works best.

Asking what a child is building, watching a minute of the world they are exploring or taking an interest in who they play with can open conversations that rarely emerge through direct questioning.

It is less about monitoring and more about understanding context.

The social media delay will change how young people move between platforms, but it will not remove their need for connection.

That connection will continue in the digital spaces that already feel natural to them.

Recognising the strengths and limits of those environments is far more productive than panicking about the apps that are temporarily out of reach.

If adults want to support young people through this period, the most useful step is not fear but familiarity.

The online worlds children use every day are not mysterious, they are simply different.

This moment offers an opportunity to understand them more clearly.

Dr James Birt is Associate Dean of External Engagement for the Faculty of Society & Design at Bond University