Australian study will track how social media age rules affect young teens

The Australian Social Media Minimum Age legislation, implemented on 10 December 2025, prohibits Australians under 16 from having social media accounts. The researchers say the policy creates an opportunity to examine changes in young people’s social media experiences and mental health over time.

The published article is a protocol, meaning it lays out the study’s methods before its final findings are available. It is not a report of completed results. That distinction matters because the protocol does not provide evidence that using social media earlier causes anxiety or depression, or that delaying use improves mental health.

The research team recruited 422 young people ages 10 to 15 along with parent or carer participants. Baseline assessments were planned for October through December 2025, before the legislation began. Follow-up assessments are scheduled for about 6 months, 12 months and 18 months after the law took effect, ending in April to May 2027.

Researchers plan to combine several kinds of information. Young people and parents or carers will complete surveys. Young people will also take part in ecological momentary assessments, which are short check-ins about experiences and feelings in everyday life. The study includes cognitive tasks and screenshots recorded by smartphones to document use of social media and messaging apps.

The team plans to use statistical methods to look for relationships between social media experiences and mental health outcomes. It will also examine whether individual characteristics, parenting and government restrictions may change those relationships.

The news coverage says a survey of 365 adolescents found that younger first use of social media was associated with more symptoms of anxiety and depression. It also says simply having an account had a weaker relationship with symptoms. However, the supplied primary paper does not report those findings, their measurements, effect sizes or statistical uncertainty. Its stated sample is 422 participants rather than 365.

Even if the survey findings are reported elsewhere, an association cannot by itself establish cause and effect. The available material does not show whether symptoms began before social media use, whether other factors could explain the pattern, or whether reported symptoms were clinical diagnoses.

The scheduled follow-ups may provide a clearer picture of changes over time. But they will still need to be completed, analysed and published before readers can know what the study found.