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Australia wants to ban teenagers from accessing social media. Digital spaces are essential and experiences there are as real as analog ones.

Soon no more social media for young people? Photo: Schank/Pond5/imago

Simply lock young people out. That’s the solution! At least that’s what the Australian government thinks, which wants to ban people from accessing social media until they are 14 or 16 years old – adults aren’t sure yet. This senseless and discriminatory law is set to be introduced into parliament in 2024, says Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.

He has not yet explained how the lockout will be implemented technically. But no matter what mechanism he has in mind, it will be based on data about young people being collected and used by corporations and the government. A dystopia.

However, such proposals are not originally Australian; they are also discussed again and again in Germany. On the one hand, such proposals are nonsensical and dangerous, and on the other hand, they are a reason to think further about age discrimination.

In the spirit of anger-driven, knowledge-free ageism, I demand: Facebook only for people over 60! Older people lack the necessary digital media skills. They are far too quickly radicalized by the populism on this platform. And Tiktok only for people over 30! Simply to leave at least a little bit of space for younger people.

Don’t exclude the victims

Violence, fraud and propaganda are serious dangers that young people are exposed to online. Dangers that politicians must urgently address. But excluding potential victims is not “caring”.

Let’s translate this into the adult world: At festivals like the Oktoberfest, acts of violence are committed, especially sexual ones by men against women. Is the solution not to allow women to attend these festivals? It would be a lazy, discriminatory pseudo-solution that harms those who are victimized, not those who make them victims.

Australia’s Albanese not only argues with the obvious dangers for children and young people such as grooming, radicalisation and bullying. He also says that social media keeps children away from “real friends” and “real experiences”.

Potential for real solutions

If experiences and friends on social media platforms aren’t real, what are my cousins’ Instagram posts about their children starting school? Ask all the people who met on dating apps or social media platforms, experienced the biggest heartbreak of their lives, a long-term relationship and maybe even had one or more children: Isn’t all of that real? And wasn’t it real from the start?

Social media, whether Tiktok, Instagram, Snapchat or old school forums, have the potential real Creating solutions for problems from the analogue world. Solutions that cannot be created in the analogue world. The internet is full of communities and sub-communities that could never meet in the non-digital world, or only with great effort. This also and especially affects young people and also and especially marginalized people. For them, social media can be life-saving.

These solutions in the reality is sometimes more difficult than on the internet. Why not find a place where a queer youth group can meet? A place that everyone can get to regularly and easily, regardless of whether they live in Nuremberg or Buxtehude, whether they are rich or poor. Without fear of being seen and judged by neighbors or even by explicit homo and trans haters. Without being asked by parents where you are going and then having to lie if in doubt.

Teenagers are smarter

Violence – including against young people – doesn’t just happen online. It happens everywhere in our interactions with them. Especially when they belong to minorities. The Internet can protect against some cases of this violence. You don’t have to be 16 to need this protection. Not even 14.

You don’t have to be 16 to do this either: find solutions to circumvent bans. Teenagers are younger, but not dumber than older people. I suspect they are smarter. They know how to climb over fences (including in the digital world), cut holes in them, and dig tunnels underneath them. This is one of their core competencies, alongside questioning authority and nonsensical rules.

The rule that Australian adults are currently devising is one such rule. It does not protect, but rather destroys protection.