Two months after Australia’s social media age ban came into force, Kiama’s “GenTech” teens are already finding ways around it.

“A lot of kids who kept their accounts logged in on their laptops never actually lost access — as long as they don’t log out,” says a Kiama mum of three who works in the education department.

“They’ve also created multiple fake profiles with different ages, from 16 to 18. They wanted it to look realistic, not obvious.”

The ban, which took effect on 10 December 2025, prevents children under 16 from holding accounts on major platforms including Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat and YouTube.

But the results have been mixed.

“Before the ban even started, they set up new Gmail accounts with fake birthdays so they could verify their new profiles,” she says.

“We’ve raised a generation we call ‘GenTech’. We shouldn’t underestimate their savviness, resilience and stubbornness. They survived puberty and social disconnection during a global pandemic.”

The app charts tell a similar story.

According to data from the Queensland University of Technology Digital Media Centre, the top ten app downloads in Australia on 10 December — the day the ban hit — included Lemon8 and Yope.

Yope, a photo-sharing app, is gaining traction with 2.2 million monthly active users. Similarly, Lemon8, an app developed by the creators of TikTok, has been described as an “Instagram clone.”

Currently, both are exempt from the ban; however, they are under investigation.

Meanwhile, in a surprising twist, local teens report regaining access to Snapchat in late December.

“Overnight, kids were saying, ‘check your accounts, they’re open again’,” said a mum. “They were locked out for two weeks after the ban, and then suddenly able to get back in.”

Before the ban, Snapchat said it reached 75 per cent of 13–34-year-olds across more than 20 countries.

By the end of January 2026, the company had locked or disabled more than 415,000 Australian accounts it says belong to under-16s — either self-declared or flagged by its age-detection tools.

Yet in a February media release, Snapchat conceded there are “real technical limitations” to reliable age checks, even as it says it is “locking more accounts daily.”

The social media ban has had a unique impact on teens in regional areas such as Kiama, where social connection is already limited by geography, transport and fewer after-school options.

Milly Rose Bannister is a youth mental and social health expert and the founder of ALLKND, a youth-led charity working nationally with young Australians aged 15–25.

She has spent the past six months analysing the real-world impact of the social media age ban on young people across both metro and regional Australia.

Her research highlights three trends: high levels of circumvention, particularly outside cities; a disproportionate impact on regional teens; and the “absence of parallel support.”

“Policy has removed access without replacing support,” she says.

“Young people consistently report the absence of parallel investment in digital literacy education, safer platform design, or offline alternatives that are genuinely accessible in regional areas.”

She supports the advice of other digital experts who say an all-out ban is an overcorrection.

“Young people are not asking for unrestricted access to social media,” says Bannister. The compromise? Age-appropriate platform settings, co-designed with young people.

“In consultation, young people are repeatedly calling for school-based digital literacy education that goes beyond just tracking screen time,” she says.

“They also need adults who are equipped to have informed, non-alarmist conversations about online life.”

Holly Pastor is the Careers and Transition advisor at Bomaderry High School and agrees regional teens can feel isolated.

“Being a teen in a regional area comes with its own challenges,” she says. “There are fewer opportunities for social activities compared to the city, so social media is often their main way of connecting with friends.”

“The age ban might feel more limiting here because it takes away one of the few ways they can stay connected with their wider peer group.”

She says this is only the start of a lower-tech transition — and offering alternative ways to connect with peers is vital.

“Some students are coping well, others are struggling a bit with anxiety or feeling left out,” she says. “It’s early days, so we’re keeping an eye on things and making sure students have support when they need it.”

For adults and young people alike, it is clear more still needs to be done to ease the impact of tech addiction — and the answer isn’t to go cold turkey.

A hopeful example is the banning of mobile phones in schools.

Beginning with Victorian schools in 2020, mobiles have been banned in Australian schools. According to government data, 81 per cent of students say learning has improved since the ban, 87 per cent say they are less distracted in class, and 86 per cent say socialising has improved.

“The effect was immediate,” says a local high school educator.

“I used to walk through the playground and every student would be looking at a phone. The week after the ban, they were playing basketball and chatting to each other. It was incredible.”

The strategy offers students age-appropriate autonomy.

In New South Wales, high school students can leave their phones in lockable ‘pouches’, in lockers, or hand them to school staff at the beginning of the day.

In a policy change, which came into effect in February 2025, principals may allow students to use mobile phones in “specific circumstances” such as to achieve health and wellbeing outcomes.

As a local 15-year-old told The Bugle, “I hate all the technology in schools. I wish I didn’t even have a phone, but I’d be totally cut off from everyone.”

However, young people are finding opportunities to unplug and rebel against the social media giants.

A group of students in Kiama are boycotting WhatsApp, which has been repeatedly criticised for being a hotbed of bullying and harassing behaviour.

Currently, WhatsApp is not part of the social media age ban because it is technically a ‘private messaging’ platform. However, experts are warning that group chats are part of a hidden bullying epidemic.

“Last year, my daughter and her friends all decided to uninstall WhatsApp — and they’re not resorting to reinstalling it,” said a mum. “It’s a dangerous place and even the kids know it. They didn’t get banned, but they’re boycotting it. I love that for them.”

Boxout: Supporting Young Scrollers

Family therapist Rachel Schofield says leading by example is key.

• Be the anchor: Your teen needs to feel your confidence. If they hit a wave of upset at the loss of their social media account, try not to rush in to ‘fix’ the feeling. Their upset is a natural and healthy response to a loss. If we feel anxious at our child’s upset, we can enter a vicious cycle.
• Check in on the ‘how.’ Help them navigate alternative ways to stay in touch with friends, whether that’s safer platforms or more face-to-face time. We want to ensure their social world stays rich, even while their online world is being protected.
• Cultivate the long game: Think of this time as a vital digital pause. Their brains are still building the filters they need to handle the complexities and pressures of the social media world. By age 16, they will be better equipped to cope with it.
• Model healthy tech use: Check in with your own social media use and prioritise face-to-face connection at home. The habits they develop now will stay with them; let’s help make them healthy ones.