Fix the house: On social media, social media access

The more wicked the problem, the more the people yearn for a simpler solution. This tendency has complicated the public debate on how and how much social media harm teenagers. While the idea that these platforms were stoking a mental health crisis prevailed in several countries for long, researchers have now adopted a more cautious stance. Social media use and mental health are clearly associated — more so among girls — but how much of that is actually causal and in what circumstances is still being debated. Recently, Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke favourably of Australia’s decision , in 2024, to ban social media access for those aged 16 and below . His words augur a similar ban in India, one that Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka have publicly mulled as well. However, Australian psychologists, digital health researchers, child-rights scholars, and online safety experts have criticised the ban because, while there is a credible body of evidence linking social media use and harm among children, evidence of a link between an age-based access ban and better mental health has been lacking. In the absence of a real-world precedent, Australia has effectively been conducting a natural experiment. And research has estimated that around 85% of 12-16-year-olds still use social media platforms.