Jason Clare says banning teens from social media will boost education results

Federal Education Minister Jason Clare says banning children’s access to social media will also help improve education results across the country.

The world-first ban taking effect next week will bar Australian kids under 16 from using a range of social media apps, including Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Threads, TikTok, X, YouTube, Kick, Reddit and Twitch.

Mr Clare on Monday said he believed the ban would help boost education results by improving children’s mental health.

“I think they’ll help improve them — that would be my bet,” he said when asked what he thought the ban would do to education results across the country.

“There’s a real link between mental health and education achievement.

“Children who have challenges with their mental health are usually about a year and a half to two years behind their friends in the classroom when they’re in Year 9.

“And we know the mental health impact that social media is having on teenagers across the country.”

Mr Clare said addictive social media was “like poker machines for kids”.

“Any parent ... who has got a teenager who’s screamed out for them to come to the dinner table and they can’t hear them because they’re sitting on their bed doom scrolling on their phone looking at TikTok or whatever will know the sort of impact that it has on our children,” he said.

“That’s why we’re doing this — to help our kids, to help Australian parents. And I think one of the impacts of it will be that it’s going to help education achievement as well.”

Mr Clare said schools had already seen the effect of banning mobile phones, with teachers reporting kids were now more focused on them in the classroom than their phones.

“Playgrounds are noisier at lunch time than they used to because kids are playing with each other rather than looking down at their phones,” he said.

“But as we know, when the school bell rings, go past a bus stop at 3 o’clock and you’ll see kids on their phones again.”

From December 10, age-restricted social media platforms will have to take “reasonable steps” to prevent children under 16 from creating or keeping an account.

The restrictions aim to protect children from harmful content and algorithms that encourage them to spend more time on screens.

Australian eSafety commissioner Julie Inman Grant said some platforms still had not advised teenagers about what to do when the ban comes into effect.

“It’s disappointing ... we suggested the best time frame was two weeks in advance,” she told reporters at Parliament House on Monday.

“My powers don’t come into effect until December 10, and that’s when we’ll start gathering information notices.”

Advice has been issued on Meta platforms Facebook, Instagram and Threads, as well as Snapchat.

TikTok, X, Kick and YouTube are yet to publicly reveal compliance measures.

“We have asked companies to compassionately and kindly convey to young people how they plan to deactivate or move their accounts and give them choices,” Ms Inman Grant said.