If social media is where young people connect, is banning it really protecting us, or silencing us? For many teens, social media is a space for creativity, identity, and belonging. Restricting this too early could negatively impact their mental and emotional development. The government is doing this because they think that by banning social media, it'll 'help' us children get back into the real world and also let the death and suicide rates lower. But at the same time, they're a bunch of elderly people who don't know how social media works, and think they can parent about approximately 5.1 million children. (It was estimated from about the ages of 18 and under since there isn't any official data about under 16's).

I believe restricting social media for teens under the ages of 16 reduces freedom and equality. We are not asking for control, but we are asking for respect, fairness, freedom and most of all, the rights of being able to speak freely (that the government clearly isn't letting us do). While we don't have an official law about under 16's being able to have the freedom of speech, from what I have researched and gathered, it is heavily implied. And there also isn't a law about who actually has the freedom of speech, whether if it's just adults who get to decide or not since it's regardless of your age, race, ethnicity, where you come from and who you are here in Australia.

Why insist on calling our country 'free', when only people under the age of 16 aren't able to have the freedom to speak, to connect, and to be heard? If young Australians are silenced before they are sixteen, what message are we sending? That our opinions don’t matter? That our voices are too young to count? Well then, explain to all of us about why we can get a job under 16? Why we can pay taxes? Why we can learn how to drive? Why we can we go to jail? Why do we practically have to do everything that most adults already do, yet we can't even have a singular scroll on any kind of social media platform? What does this say about us as a Nation?

The government stated that social media platforms are causing harm to young Australians particularly in areas such as mental health, body image, cyber-bullying, sleep and attention span. But even so, getting rid of it completely is NOT the proper way to handle this. For the good of Kirstie, Lucy, Anja and Sam? Now they're just trying to control, guilt trip, AND emotionally manipulate us. Although cyber-bullying is difficult to deal with most times since you can't actually control what people do online, if you want to stop seeing them, it's as easy as the block button and trying to reach out and communicate with others to get the help you need. But unlike cyber-bullying, IRL (in real life) bullying is way more impactful and dangerous, considering your 'bullies' can physically hurt you. What next, is the government going to ban us from going outside as well? Because that's basically what it feels like. Us under 16's are going to be silenced and isolated from what's going on out in the world because of hurtful words that were said to people online? In my opinion, just be you and stop caring because once you do, it hurts less. And plus, you'll never really get to see or know who these people really are, so why should it matter about what they think of you?

Instead of just completely taking social media away from children, how about you raise money for fundings to help educate us about the rights and wrongs and how to be safe online. There are far more issues with our country, yet the government still decides to focus on something so minor? We're not trying to bring people who have been cyber-bullied down, my and friends and I too are victims of cyber-bullying. But punishing everyone else for something that half of us aren't involved in isn't the way to go. A lot of neurodivergent, lgbtq+, POC (people of colour) and just teens who can't really seem to fit in society's trending ways of 'the norm' actually use social media to help cope with their issues or to find communities online to feel like they belong. The government taking it away from us is really going to make an impact on not just them, but also the supposedly 'normies.'

If we don't act now, the very things that are precious to all of us will be forcefully taken away and we won't be able to use the one thing that had helped nearly all of us find a sense of identity and belonging. Instead of bullying each other or making fun of one another, we should just all collectively decide to work together in hopes of lifting this ban before it's even enforced. You can contribute by just making a simple video about the ban and posting it online to spread awareness, or even sign this petition. We WILL put a stop to this, and justice will be served.