Has the world-first social media ban for children delivered on its promise, or should it be scrapped, strengthened or fine-tuned? Are children protected from the potential harms of social media? What has the ban achieved in practice, and what have been its unintended consequences? Is it time to scrap the ban, strengthen it or fine-tune the approach?
Our panel brings together leading voices to explore the wins, drawbacks and unresolved questions surrounding this landmark policy. We'll examine what the ban has changed for children, families, schools and social media platforms, and consider what the experience might mean for the future of children's digital lives. This is a timely conversation about technology, childhood, safety, rights and responsibility – and a chance to look beyond the headlines to ask what happens next.
Tackling one of the most contentious issues facing families and children today will be our panel:
Virginia Trioli, veteran broadcaster, writer and author. Virginia is a two-time Walkley Award-winner and is the author of Generation F: Sex, Power and the Young Feminist, and her latest book is A Bit on the Side: Reflections On What Makes Life Delicious.
Dr Lisa Given, Distinguished Professor and Director, Centre for Human-AI Information Environments and Director, Social Change Enabling Impact Platform, RMIT University. A Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia, Lisa's research explores people's technology use, from social media to artificial intelligence. A former President of the Association for Information Science and Technology, her latest book is Looking for Information: Examining Research on How People Engage with Information. She has written extensively for The Conversation on Australia's social media ban and provided commentary for hundreds of media stories in ABC News, The New York Times, and the BBC.
Dr. Leila Green, Professor of Communications in Edith Cowan University's School of Arts and Humanities and a Chief Investigator for the Australian Research Council (ARC)-funded Centre of Excellence for the Digital Child. In addition, Lelia is working on ARC grants that investigate what teens want in a 'porn literacy' curriculum, and how they want adults to handle threats to their intimate digital communication, including image based sexual harassment and abuse, and sextortion. She's researched children's digital lives from birth to eighteen across the past quarter century. Her new book is The Digital Child: Creating Confident Children.
In a conversation chaired by RMIT University's Dr Dylan Bird, who is a lecturer in journalism and a broadcaster with over ten years experience. He currently hosts the weekly current affairs show Future Perfect on Triple R FM. He is also a podcast producer and has won two Australian Podcast Awards, and been a finalist in the New York Festivals Radio Awards. His academic research explores the role of media in democracy.
Presented by RMIT University in partnership with Queenscliffe Literary Festival.
