How will landmark social media laws impact GPs?

With Australia’s world-first social media age restrictions now in effect, what does this mean for GPs and just how will it impact their daily practice?
 
From Wednesday, Facebook, Instagram, Kick, Reddit, Snapchat, Threads, X, TikTok and YouTube must ‘take reasonable steps’ to prevent Australians aged under 16 years from having accounts on their platforms.
 
In the wake of the reforms, experts say GPs have the chance to drive positive change in the mental health of children and families – casting doubt on the ‘catastrophic’ consequences predicted by some and instead seeing it as an opportunity to return to more positive screen use.
 
And it’s something RACGP Specific Interests Child and Young Person’s Health Chair Dr Tim Jones believes GPs will ‘definitely be having a lot of conversations about’.
 
‘There’s been lots of time for young people and families to think about this and what it means for them,’ he told newsGP.
 
‘It’s a return to that ability to use screens in a way that is more net positive than net negative, which is where we’ve ended up.
 
‘We do believe that young people are pretty resilient and will find other ways to connect without algorithms and endless feeds of social media driving it.’
  
A newsGP poll conducted in September 2024 shows 89% of GPs support age restrictions on social media accounts to reduce its mental health impacts on children.
 
Evidence abounds that too much screen time, and its associations with physical inactivity, poor mood, disrupted sleep and poor concentration, can negatively affect young people’s mental and physical wellbeing.
 
And as children' s screen time has increased, so too has their use of social media. New University of Adelaide research of children aged 11–14 found the share of daily social media users tripled from 2019–22, from 26% up to 85%.
 
Legislating age restrictions, says Dr Jones, has provided the impetus and scaffolding for families to have conversations they have wanted to have around their children’s social media use.
 
‘It’s been really interesting to see that families have, by and large, come out in strong support, which says that they’ve been really wanting to have these conversations, but have really struggled with any young person having pretty unrestricted access to social media with no controls in place,’ he said.
 
‘Those are the conversations we’re going to be having as GPs; it’s how are families negotiating that change? How are they feeling empowered to have really positive discussions about helping their young person to still feel connected?’
 
Dr Jones said the change also provides the opportunity for families to explore – and for GPs to encourage discussions around – social media use across the whole family unit.
 
‘It’s a wake-up call for GPs to be talking with families about screen time more broadly, because we know that challenges around social media use and wellbeing don’t begin and end with kids and young people, he said.
 
‘We know that it’s having a negative effect on lots of adults as well.
 
‘This is an opportunity for families, parents, other people, to think about change as it relates to their whole family.’
 
But Dr Jones warns the legislation is ‘no silver bullet’ for shielding children from harmful content.
 
‘The changes mean kids won’t be targeted by algorithms, not that they’ll be completely protected from harmful content or contact altogether – it’s not a silver bullet, and that’s clear in the eSafety advice,’ he said.
 
‘We all still have an obligation to ensure kids’ online experiences are safe and watch for online harms.
 
‘The key thing is to have open conversations about your online lives and mental health, and to be aware of changes.’
 
Clinical psychologist Dr Danielle Einstein, who presented evidence at the 2024 Senate inquiry into the social media age legislation, told newsGP the new laws ‘provide an opportunity for us to get clear positive messages out about how to build mental health’.
 
However, she also said while the first iteration of the social media ban will be ‘really imperfect’, it is important for it to be supported by GPs.
 
‘What’s important is that we don’t approach this as a ‘‘pass versus fail’’ and that we get behind and support it in our conversations,’ she said.
 
Dr Einstein said she would like to see GPs routinely ask young patients who present with anxiety or depression about device use and include the information in mental health care plans.
 
‘GPs need to normalise the asking about it, to say, “hi, I do this with everyone. Let’s just have a look. How was it yesterday? Oh, you were online for four hours. What was that? Mostly social media, OK”,’ she said.
 
‘We have to acknowledge that this is actually playing into anxiety and depression.
 
‘People can’t use the traditional cognitive behavioural treatment. It’s not going to work effectively or quickly if someone is spending those sorts of hours on social media, because to overcome those problems, we know we’ve got to get people active.’
 
Dr Jones said he hopes the ban offered GPs the opportunity to have ‘non-judgmental, supportive, strengths-based conversations’ with patients.
 
‘We’ve got those trusted relationships,’ he said.
 
‘We’re not going to be judgmental. We’re not going to tell people there’s one right approach, because we don’t know.
 
‘We’re just going to be sharing broad principles about what some of the benefits and harms are around screen time and social media.’
 
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