Latest / Dr Justin Coulson's Happy Families / The Social Media Ban Starts Today — What Parents Need to Know

Transcript

The Social Media Ban Starts Today — What Parents Need to Know · Dr Justin Coulson's Happy Families

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Hello, Welcome to the Happy Families Podcast. December tenth, twenty
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: twenty five. Today's today that the social media minimum age
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: legislation kicks off. It's rolling out, it's happening as of
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: Well now, I'm sure there's going to be some teething errors.
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: I'm sure that there's going to be some challenges and parents, no,
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: you do not get to abrogate your responsibility to keep
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: your kids living a healthy life and away from screens
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: as much as you can. But today on the podcast,
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: we're going to do something different. Kylie's going to role
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: play missus. Happy Families is not going to be my
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: wife and co host. Actually you are, you always are.
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: But Kylie, today you're going to play the role of reporter,
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: intrepid reporter because.
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: Because the real reporter didn't want to talk to your
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: second time round.
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: Well, it's not that the real reporter didn't want to
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: talk to me, it's that they weren't given permission. So
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: to cut along story really short, I was interviewed by
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: a reporter from a news organization that we shall not
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: name right now because that could get them in trouble.
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: And the interview questions were so good, like so good
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: and I loved the interview so much, and I said, well,
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: you know that was great. I wonder if I wonder
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: if you could interview me again and I could record
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: it for the podcast. And they went away and asked
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: the boss and the boss said no. So therefore, because
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: we've got the questions, Kylie's going to pretend to be
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: that reporter and we're going to do a reenactment. Except Kylie,
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: knowing you, you're gonna have a bit to say. You're
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: not just going to ask questions, so maybe you will.
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: I don't know, Well, what's my stage name.
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: I'm not allowed to say. We're just going to say
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: Kylie the intrepid reporter for her. So we're going to
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: go through this wonderful interview. I'm sure I've forgotten most
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: of my answers, but it was a great interview, and
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: I'll come off with some are the ones right after this. Hello,
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: and welcome to the Happy Family podcast Real Parenting Solutions.
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: Every single day on Australia's most downloaded parenting podcast, we
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: are Justin and Kylie Coulson. But today Kylie is playing
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: the role of the intrepid reporter who has a bunch
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: of questions for me about the Social Media Minner major
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: legislation which kicks off today right around the country. Let's
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: not waste any time, intrepid reporter Kylie, what is the
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: first question? Let's make this interview happen.
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: Well, thank you for joining me today, Doctor Justin. Today's
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: a really big date for parents out there as they
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: deal with some pretty big emotions, I would say, with
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: the rollout of the social media band for under sixteen.
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: So we're technically calling it the social Media minim major
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: legislation limits.
• 2:28
  Speaker 3: But that's howful, isn't it.
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: So I've got some really important questions for you, and
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: I know that parents are eaching to find out what
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: you've got to say about them.
• 2:36
  Speaker 3: Can't wait?
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: How are parents feeling about the upcoming social media band?
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: Do you think?
• 2:41
  Speaker 3: Well, you've got kids, can I ask? How do you
• 2:43
  Speaker 3: feel about it?
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: Oh? I'm so excited?
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: Why because and by the way, I did this to
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: the reporter, like I love turning questions back on reporters.
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: But anyway, go ahead, because at this point there's only
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: one child in our house that it impacts. But it
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: just allows her to reconnect in positive ways, even if
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: it's only for a short time. But she's actually taken
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: it on.
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: Board really well, yeah, at this point she has very much.
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: So my position is pretty much as follows. Parents that
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: I've been speaking to around the country consistently have been saying,
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: oh my goodness, thank goodness, we are so grateful we
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: need this social media ban. There are obviously some who
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: think that it's silly. There are some who don't really
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: care and think that it's a bit meh, a bit
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: nah whatever, But generally speaking, the response has been overwhelmingly positive.
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: Parents are struggling with kids and their screens, particularly the
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: social media side of things, And just to be really
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: clear about it, kids can still access content that's on
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: social media if it's publicly available, Like they can jump
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: onto an internet browser and look up at TikTok about
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: whatever thing they're interested in, and they will be able
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: to find it if it's publicly available. But what they
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: can't do is they can't have a social media account,
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: and they can't be followed by an algorithm and have
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: ongoing suggested content directed and targeted at them because of
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: who they are, because of what they've clicked on, what
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: they've liked, what they've shared, what they've commented on.
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: And I would assume because they don't have their own profile.
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: In spite of the fact that they can access content
• 4:11
  Speaker 2: that's publicly available, they can't comment.
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: I'm not sure about commenting or not. We'll have to
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: see if our daughter can do that later today. But
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: this is the critical thing where we're trusting, and this
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: is a hard thing to do with social media companies.
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: A big tech is just not trustworthy. But we're trusting
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: that there's not something going on in the background where
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: kids are still being monitored, certainly without account, without an account.
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: This should be a good thing, and parents generally are
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: feeling really really positive about this social media minimum age legislation.
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: I am curious how you think the kids are feeling
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: about this.
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: I've spoken with a number of adolescents over the last
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: couple of months about it. Some of them think that
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: it's ridiculous. There's a whole lot that are arguing, oh,
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: we're just going to get a VPN. For those who
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: are not familiar VPNs virtual private network that's a way
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: of hiding where your router is and being able to
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: get access to content from overseas, or pretend that you're
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: in a that you're not from my conversations with Julie
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: Inman Grant, Australia's c E Safety Commissioner. Technology is going
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: to be implemented sufficient to stop VPNs and fake profiles
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: and fake IDs and other things working. So it's going
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: to take a very, very very motivated teenager to get
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: around the technology at this point. While there are some
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: kids that are really upset about it, and there are
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: some who are legitimately disadvantage, like there are some kids
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: who are running businesses on social media and this is
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: going to be hard for them, But generally speaking, most
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: kids are fine with it, and some are actually excited,
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: Like there are some kids that I've spoken to are like, yeah,
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: this is a problem and I need the help and
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: this is going to stop me from being online.
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: Do you think it's tricky timing for families given that
• 5:46
  Speaker 2: school has just finished and we're heading into the holidays.
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: Yeah, So when the reporter asked me this question, sorry
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: you are the reporter. Of course in this role.
• 5:53
  Speaker 3: Play, you're not very good at roll. I'm so sorry. Yeah,
• 5:58
  Speaker 3: I was kind.
• 5:58
  Speaker 2: Of like when I said, the boss of this, now,
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: when is the right time?
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: My response was, is when is the right time for this?
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: Like you could argue that it's cerebral timing because school
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: Holidays is just starting. But you could also if you
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: did it during the school year, like the start of
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: term one, or I don't know, the start of term
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: or midterm. At no point is this going to be
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: easy or lacking in complexity. I actually think at a
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: personal level that this is great timing. Kids are not
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: at school, they're not reliant on their devices. I wouldn't
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: think the same way that they would be otherwise. They've
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: now got a whole lot of free time where we
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: can say to them things like go outside and play,
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: or no, you don't need that screen, and no, there's
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: nothing for you to look at anyway. This is the
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: time where kids get to be creative, they get to
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: get outside, they get to use their bodies. And I
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: think school Holidays is the perfect time to roll it
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: out so that kids can get used to it before
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: school comes back.
• 6:56
  Speaker 3: I like it. I like it a lot.
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: Am I allowed to have an opinion?
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: Well, you can say whatever you like. You're running this show. Apparently,
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: I think.
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: It's great too.
• 7:06
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 7:06
  Speaker 2: I think it's great because, like you've already acknowledged that,
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: it gives there's time for kids to kind of navigate
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: life in a new space without added complication. But I
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: also think they've got time on their side.
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: So they can get their friends around now and just
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: get face to face.
• 7:24
  Speaker 2: They've got time on their side, And I feel like
• 7:27
  Speaker 2: for those kids who are motivated, I think it's actually
• 7:30
  Speaker 2: going to be hugely successful. For the kids that aren't motivated,
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: it could be a little bit more challenging, But I
• 7:37
  Speaker 2: think that if parents engage, there's actually a really awesome opportunity.
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: Yeah, so parent engagement's going to be huge around this,
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: and for me, that's the key thing. It's also worth highlighting.
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: Parents don't get to abbrogate the responsibility here and say, oh, well,
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: now that the social media a major legislation is in,
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: I don't need to talk to my kids about screens.
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: We've still got a lot going on here that really
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: does matter, and I don't think that we can even
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: for a moment, pretend that that this is just going
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: to go away, screens will cease to be an issue.
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: This is a first step and it's important, but there's
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: a lot more to do Before you ask the next question.
• 8:12
  Speaker 3: We need to take a quick break.
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: But after the break, the Big four questions about how
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: this minimum age social media legislation affects families.
• 8:30
  Speaker 3: We're back.
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: This is the Happy Family's podcast. My name's doctor Justin Coulson,
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: and today I'm being interviewed in the absence of a
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: reporter who was not allowed to be on the podcast
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: to ask these questions. I'm being interviewed by missus Happy Families,
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: who wants to know what the reporter wanted to know.
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: What's the next question.
• 8:45
  Speaker 2: Well, you've already acknowledged that you have only one child
• 8:47
  Speaker 2: who will be navigating the social media ban. I'm interested
• 8:51
  Speaker 2: to know how you're navigating it with her.
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: So we've had quite a number of conversations. She told
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: us that all of her friends were going to get VPNs.
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: They were going to be sneaky. They thought it was stupid,
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: They hate it, And we asked her how she felt,
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: and slowly but surely, over the last little while, she's
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: been reducing her.
• 9:10
  Speaker 3: Access to platforms.
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: She deleted one platform, then a few weeks later she
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: deleted the next platform. She's been using them a little
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: bit less, and we've just been talking to her about
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: why this matters. And I don't think that it's been
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: nearly enough I'm not satisfied at all with the with
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: the way that she's done it. I would have loved
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: to have seen her do more. But at the end
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: of the day, it's going to happen. It's futile for
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: her to fight against it. And as of today, she
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: doesn't have access to social media. So yeah, it's kind
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: of it's futile and now it's happening.
• 9:41
  Speaker 2: What do we do if, like we mentioned earlier, we've
• 9:44
  Speaker 2: got teenagers who are less motivated, how do we ensure
• 9:48
  Speaker 2: that they don't feel isolated.
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: There's this argument that there are disadvantaged kids or minority
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: kids who get support and help because they're allowed to
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: have access to social media. There are two things that
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: I want to say about that. First of all, if
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: you look closely at the research, that's not necessarily the case.
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: It might be in unique circumstances, but generally, if for
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: kids having a hard time offline because of their minority
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: status or because of their group status, for whatever reason,
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: when they go online, they tend to Yes, they might
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: find some people who can be supportive, but they tend
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: to get a pretty hard time on.
• 10:20
  Speaker 3: Life as well.
• 10:21
  Speaker 2: To say, yeah, it kind of aligns pretty well with
• 10:24
  Speaker 2: real life.
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: Yeah, being online is not a safer place generally speaking.
• 10:28
  Speaker 3: It's worse.
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: Even for people who have challenging backgrounds and who are
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: looking for support online, it's very, very hard to get
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: that support. Once they get the community, it can be helpful,
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: but it's also reinforcing and doesn't necessarily help them to
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: learn to navigate real life effectively, which has lots of downsides.
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: Second thing to highlight is just this whole social media argument.
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: I mean, I'm in a couple of group chats, and
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: because I've gotten rid of social media myself, I've asked
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: if we can move those group chats from Facebook Messenger
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: to WhatsApp, and somebody said, well, it's a difference. And
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: the difference for me is when I'm on WhatsApp, it's
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: just social conversation. It's literally us talking in our group chat,
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: Whereas when you're on Facebook and you check your Messenger,
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: the algorithm also reaches out to you and pulls you
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: back into the main side of Facebook, and then you
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: get caught up in the algorithm. It's got its tentacles
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: into you. And this is the central point that I
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: want to make in terms of isolation being on social media.
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: Is isolating Facebook. Recently, we're involved in an anti trust
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: trial in the United States. For those who are not
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: familiar with anti trust, it's basically about breaking up monopolies.
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: And in the anti trust trial, Facebook made the argument
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: that between eighty and ninety percent of interaction on their
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: platform now is not social. Rather, it's people who don't
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: know each other, watching short form video slash TV content
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: and commenting, liking, and sharing. So we're not really following
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: our friends, we're not really engaging with our friends, and
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: social media has literally become not social media but short
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: form television or short form video media. And the algorithm
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: is so addictive that it's causing harm to our kids
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: and it's taken them away from real life. So the
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: services this is from the eesafety dot gov dot AU website.
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: The services that e safety considers will be age restricted
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: include Facebook, Instagram, kick, Reddit, Snapchat, threads, TikTok, twitch x
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: formerly Twitter, and YouTube, but it doesn't include discord, getthub, Google, Classroom, Lego, play, Messenger, Pinterest, roadblocks,
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: Steam and steam Chat, WhatsApp, and YouTube kids. Now, these
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: may change as time goes on, but the thing that
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: I want to emphasize here is that the things that
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: have stayed Discord Messenger, roadblocks and WhatsApp the main ones
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: that I'm going to pick on right now, and even
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: Pinterests who have literally reached out and said what can
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: we do so that we can make sure that we
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: are safe for people to be on. These are mainly
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: about messaging. Now there's some horrendous stuff that still gets
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: message on these platforms. So I'm still concerned about these
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: platforms for our under sixteenes. I don't think they should
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: be on them, But at least there's no algorithms. At
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: least there's no addictive technology, and these ones don't foment
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: isolation the way the big ones do that have been
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: highlighted as being age restricted.
• 13:31
  Speaker 2: So what are some activities that might act as a
• 13:33
  Speaker 2: good distraction over the school holidays?
• 13:35
  Speaker 3: I mean, like anything.
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: When I was a kid, literally my parents didn't see
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: me during the school holidays. From about the age of thirty, my.
• 13:42
  Speaker 2: Parents would say the same thing about their teenagers, except
• 13:45
  Speaker 2: in your case, you were outside, and in a lot
• 13:48
  Speaker 2: of cases our kids are actually just in their bedroom.
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: They're in the bedroom, or they're laying on the living
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: and floor or the rumpstrom floor playing a video game
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: or something. When I reflect on my adolescent years, from
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: about the age of thirteen, I started surfing. Wh meant
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: that I had to ring my friends on the telephone
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: that was connected to the wall in the kitchen, and
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: they had to pick up the phone on the wall
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: in their kitchen, and we had to say, what bus
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: are you catching? And then we would they caught the
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: bus from a different bus stop to me, about fifteen
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: twenty minutes down the road, so hopefully they would catch
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: the bus, and they would often have to run because
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: we'd look at the timetable and go, oh my goodness, run,
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: And then I would go to the bus stop and
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: hopefully they'd be on the bus, and if they weren't,
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: I'd get off the bus and then I'd walk home
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: and I'd ring them. I'd say you missed the bus,
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: or I'd wait and hope that they were on the
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: next bus, and then we would go to the beach
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: and we would serve all day, and then we would
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: come home and get this. I would sit down on
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: a Saturday afternoon, I would watch four or five or
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: six hours of Wide World of Sports on Channel nine.
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: And that was fine. Why because I was outside for
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: half the day, and I was physically active, and I
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: was with my friends, and there was lots of social time,
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: lots of face to FaceTime, and I didn't really care
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: and Dad didn't really care that I was getting four
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: or five or six hours of TV on a Saturday
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: afternoon because I was living this really full and really
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: active life. I'm not an anti screen, I keep on
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: saying this. I'm not anti screen. I am pro living
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: a full, balanced, whole healthy life. And if this legislation
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: stops you kids from being on social media but they're
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: still playing Roadblock, they're still playing Fortnite, They're still on
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: their screens all day, every day, and they can be,
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: make no mistake, they still can be, then the legislation
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: has done nothing really.
• 15:15
  Speaker 3: So what I'm.
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: Interested in when you ask the question about what shoul
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: the kids be doing, my answer is I don't care
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: so long as they're living a full life. If you
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: live in a home like most Australians do, your kids
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: are probably going to have a bicycle. There's probably going
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: to be a basketball hoop somewhere. There's probably going to
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: be a trampoline in the backyard, or a swing set
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: that's going to be a park down the road, or
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: a beach, or a mountain to climb, or a skate park,
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: or there'll be something somewhere. So I think the most
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: important words that we can say to our tween and
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: teens across the summer now of this legislation here is
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: go outside, but on board, I know, go outside, or
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: we can say, well, I mean, what would you like
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: me to do about your boedom? Because that's what my
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: parents used to say to me, what would you like
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: me to do about it? And I'd look at them
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: and that they were saying, it's not my problem, and
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: they actually couldn't do anything about my boredom.
• 16:05
  Speaker 3: My boardom was my problem.
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: My dad used to say, only boring people get bored,
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: and maybe that was marm I can't remember. So when
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: I think about your question, what might act as a
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: good distraction over the school holidays?
• 16:15
  Speaker 3: Life?
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: Life would be a good distraction from screens over the holidays.
• 16:20
  Speaker 2: Well, doctor, justin thank you so much for your time today.
• 16:23
  Speaker 2: I had a few other questions, but you've already answered
• 16:25
  Speaker 2: them all, so I think we'll call it quits there.
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: Kylie, Intrepid Reporter extraordinaire. It's been a delight to talk
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: with you, and thank you so much for asking that
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: other reporter's question so that we could do this podcast
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: episode today.
• 16:34
  Speaker 3: I really hope that it's helpful.
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: Honestly, this is a good thing, but there is still
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: work for us to do as parents. Because kids can
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: still use their screens as much as you let them.
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: They've still got access to a lot of content online
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: and a lot of things that can keep them occupied
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: there that's not going to be in their best interests.
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: If you would like more information about what's going on,
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: check out e safety dot au. There is a social
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: media hub there that's really easy to find and it's
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: got everything that you need to know the social media
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: minimum age obligation legislation, and I think you find it
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: really helpful.
• 17:04
  Speaker 3: Willing to that in the show notes.
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: The Happy Families podcast is produced by Justin Roland from
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: Bridge Media. Mim Hammonds provides research, admin and all of
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: our other support and for more information about making your
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: family happy, please visit Happyfamilies dot com dot au.