MICHAEL USHER: 7NEWS lets these teens have their say on how social media ban will affect them

Nerves, lots of nerves. Sixteen school students, all a little on edge as we sit down to hear their important views on a ban that’s about to have a big impact on their lives.

It’s not easy being put on the spot, under studio lights, with cameras pivoting on every word. But I thought well, they should be comfortable sharing their take on the under 16’s social media shutdown because after all, this is a generation of children, born into opinion and self-publishing. A generation where many are seasoned at sharing pretty much everything about their daily life in streams of social media posts. From what they ate and what they hate, to viral trends and views on friends.

But in this forum, there was trepidation at first. What I hadn’t considered, is the broader pressure of this ban. These kids aren’t just worried about the impact on them, they’re worried about getting into trouble for having a different view to their parents, or their school, or the big government that’s taken on the tech giants behind the social media platforms.

To shake out the nerves, I had our forum of students do a quick show of hands on the key points. How many thought this ban was a good thing? A majority, yes. How many thought it was a bad thing? Fewer hands in the air. How many just aren’t sure about how this ban will work? Majority show of hands.

Said one student: “In the end, I strongly believe that the Government did make a good choice in implementing this ban. But I believe that other people are affected by it or may be upset about it is because kids under the age of 16 didn’t really get a real say on it.”

What we set out to do in our 7NEWS series of special reports on this groundbreaking social media ban, was look at not only the motives but the method. The Prime Minister tells us he just couldn’t bear to have another Australian family lose a child to tortured bullying online. Psychologists tell us we’re dealing with genuine social media addiction in the brains of our teens. Tech experts have help for parents about to manage devices next week and I was tasked with finding out whether students would accept it or fight it.

We picked 16 students from south-west Sydney, who attend Good Samaritan Catholic College. They’re a fantastic group of students who are very diligent and considered, and who I’ve got to know over the years, after speaking with them and helping them on projects. I know their parents and the school are very proud of them.

But on this subject, they’re out on their own, like every student across Australia. But they jumped at the chance to speak publicly on the ban.

We addressed the subject of kids being kids and getting around the ban using false IDs.

“It’s basically certain that kids will definitely get around it,” one very practical student told me. “I sincerely believe several parents will help their kids get around the ban. They don’t agree with it.”

The involvement of parents surprised me. I think we all figured that in every generation under age children have scored fake IDs to sneak alcohol and cigarettes. Or there’s always someone of age willing to buy for them and get around the law. And so it seems it will be with the social media ban.

“They will get their parents to, and sometimes some parents will actively use their own ID or use their own face to prove that the account is owned by an adult when rather it’s actually owned by the child.”

But before we condemn the minority of parents who may do this - and it will be the minority I’m sure - there was a repeated view from our forum of students that most kids and their parents have healthy social media habits.

“I know many people personally that their parents are very involved with their social media use,” one of the students said.

“They have set limitations. Whereas if you go to a family whose parents are not involved in social media, it’s very highly likely that that person misuses.”

But what stood out for me among these students was a sense of relief that was something was being done to prevent them from being exposed to harm, grief, graphic material and exploitation. They say it’s relentless and there are very few filters.

“For example, X. I feel like that’s a very, I’ve had a very bad experience on that platform because I’m seeing stuff I don’t want to see,” a student said.

“I think I deleted it five minutes within installing it.”

The one theme all these students repeated was that for those using social media responsibly, the ban means a major shift in how they connect with friends. The direct messaging features on many of the about to be banned platforms are lifelines for friend groups. Unfortunately, those some messaging services have been infiltrated by hateful opportunists and bullies.

Stand by for a generation of teens to leap back in time and start texting – the very old-fashioned format that many a child mocks their parents for using!

There will be socially anxious kids who found friends and interests on social media that may struggle. There’ll be very curious kids who found new hobbies and a tribe of their own in the YouTube tutorials that will now be limited in parts.

And the next 10 days are going to be bumpy for under-16’s and their families if their strategy is just going cold turkey the day the ban starts.

The benefits however should be enormous, and we’d be a shameful generation of adults if we didn’t step in and do something now to protect our children. My three children are too old for the ban now, and over time they either self-regulated social media use or ditched some platforms anyway once year 12 loomed and study pressure took priority.

There’ll be glitches with the ban, there’s no doubt, but for the sake of the very sensible 16 students who shared their views with me and the million more around the country, we’re doing something to help them, where the big tech owners of social media platforms have failed them.