Australia’s decision to ban social media for children under 16 has struck a chord with anxious parents around the world. The concerns of parents are real. Even the EU on Friday accused
Facebook and Instagram’s parent company, Meta, of failing to limit the risks the platforms posed to children because of their “addictive designs.” Cyberbullying, addictive algorithms, online predators, unrealistic body images, and endless scrolling have left many children less healthy, less happy, and less connected. In Bangladesh, too, a 2025 Unicef survey found misinformation, bullying, and harmful content on social media to be causes of stress for children and youth.
However, despite the Australian ban, a comprehensive study found little evidence of immediate substantive reductions in reported social media use by adolescents under 16 years. While the Australian government has promised tougher measures against social media platforms, the question remains: why is it so hard to get children off social media?
The uncomfortable answer lies in the fact that society has steadily taken away the physical spaces where young people once formed friendships, experimented with independence, and simply spent time together. Parents worry more about safety. Organised activities have replaced free play. Schools close their gates shortly after lessons end, and homes may feel like isolating prison cells for some children. Dhaka city, too, is fast losing the few community playgrounds it has. For many children, particularly in cities, social media has become a substitute public square.
Friendships are maintained through social media platforms because these are the only places where everyone can “meet” after school. Social media did not cause the disappearance of children’s public spaces; it filled the vacuum left behind.
That does not mean today’s digital platforms are suitable environments for children. Many have been deliberately designed to maximise attention, encourage compulsive engagement, and reward outrage rather than comprehensive thought. Their business model is built around advertising and data collection, not child development.
The solution, therefore, is not to expel children from their social spaces but to rebuild the physical spaces that children have lost.
Imagine if every public school became a genuine community hub from dawn until dusk. School playgrounds, sports fields, libraries, music rooms, art spaces, and halls could remain open after classes end, supervised by teachers as well as community volunteers or youth workers. Children would once again have safe places to meet, play, study, rehearse music, build robots, read books, or simply spend time together.
The all-day school concept in some form already exists in elite schools where children have many after-school activities from which to choose. However, in the Lankan city of Colombo, for example, a school in a poorer part of town would be deserted after school hours. Children return home often to constricted spaces without much to stimulate them. Thus, repurposing schools as community spaces would be one of the most cost-effective investments governments could make for improving children’s wellbeing.
However, researchers found that Australian children continue using social media despite the ban because of peer pressure. Although we do not know whether peer pressure to be on social media will reduce if better physical social spaces are provided, at least children won’t face pressure in isolation at home. They will have more options to socialise in physical spaces.
A recent research study by LIRNEasia found that media and information literacy (MIL) are effective in helping children manage misinformation in any media and recommended integrating MIL into formal education curricula, reinforcing learning through follow-up sessions, and developing targeted MIL content for parents or caregivers.
Training for parents and caregivers should make them question their own social media use. Children’s digital habits are not a uniquely youth problem. They learn from what they see. If parents spend evenings scrolling through phones, watching content from streaming services, or constantly checking notifications, children learn a powerful lesson about what normal life looks like.
Perhaps the most effective screen-time policy begins not with children but with adults. Parents, too, should limit their social media activity during family time, such as from 6:00 pm to 10:00 pm on school days. Before then, schools or other community spaces will serve as social spaces for children.
The debate should therefore move beyond the false choice between unrestricted social media and outright prohibition. The real challenge is rebuilding the social ecology of family and childhood, in which children can socialise safely without parental supervision; parents have their own time, and then both spend quality family time together.
Dr Sujata Gamage is senior research fellow at LIRNEasia, working on education and governance.
Views expressed in this article are the author's own.
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