This author interviewed 300 teenagers about their screen time. Here’s what she discovered

September 6, 2026 — 5:00am

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Madonna King is a long-time journalist and author who has written a book, Screen Wise, on Australia’s obsession with glowing rectangles.

Fitz: Madonna, the basic premise of your book is that – with just a few exceptions – screens are doing us down, yes?

MK: Yes. We’ve all been talking about the devastating impact of social media on young ones and its ban when, in fact, social media is only a tiny part of the screen pie, and we’re ignoring the damage often done by so many other screens in our lives include things such as computer games, AI, and other messaging platforms, which can carry the same threats.

Fitz: OK, I want to do an “around the grounds” look at the other areas you cover, but given that the Albanese government’s recent social media ban for under-16s is indeed the headline act, let’s look at it. What did you discover, and what is the analytical base for the claims you make?

MK: I’m a journalist, not a psychologist nor an educator. I interview people, and for this book, I interviewed 300 teenagers along with dozens of school principals, psychologists, counsellors, academics and researchers. On the basis of those interviews, I think it’s safe to say the law has not removed social media from the generation of teens already using it. In fact, I think it’s been a failure we are not acknowledging. Teens either were taken off and popped back on, or have found their way around the ban.

Fitz: But hang on, I interviewed the communications minister Annika Wells just before the government’s legislation came in last year, and said, “How on earth are you going to police this?” And she broadly said, “It won’t be us policing it. It’ll be the big tech companies. And if there’s systematic abuse where they don’t knock out these under 16-year-olds off social media, we’ll fine them up to $49.5 million.” By your analysis, these tech companies have got a case to answer because most of the kids are indeed still on it?

Six months into the supposed social media ban, most kids haven’t noticed a thing

MK: Yes. The eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant said her investigations this year showed a “substantial” – that was her word – proportion of kids under 16 retained accounts, had created new ones or had passed the platforms’ age assurance systems. Kids told me this over and over. Many just changed their date of birth and were back on in a jiffy! But kids using social media doesn’t mean the big tech companies are liable. As Annika told you, it has be systemic. Their processes have to allow access. There needs to be evidence they have not implemented appropriate systems and processes. But Pete, if it barks like a dog day and night, in life it usually is a dog …

Fitz: You make the case the tech giants need to be fined?

MK: The eSafety Commissioner announced this year that she was investigating “potential non-compliance by five platforms” – Snap, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube – to see if the steps they’d taken to remove kids was “reasonable”. We know kids are still on the........

© The Sydney Morning Herald