DIGITAL LITERACY, NOT DIGITAL EXCLUSION
Curtin University professor Tama Leaver said the tools underpinning the ban – particularly age-verification technology – are still far from reliable. More importantly, the policy risks sidelining young people rather than equipping them.
“There are definitely some harms and risks that need to be reduced so teens don’t experience the worst bits of the internet. But at the same time, we’re also disenfranchising a whole group of young people,” he told CNA’s Asia First programme.
Leaver emphasised that education – not isolation – is the missing piece.
“If we don’t do something meaningful to help young people skill up, (for instance) digital literacy … so that at 16 (they) enter the digital world more fully, then this will be an abject failure,” he noted.
He added that social media provides often-overlooked benefits, such as connection for teens with disabilities, community for those in remote areas and economic opportunities for entrepreneurial youths like Heryxlim.
“(We should) get a sense of (young people’s) experiences, the risks (and) challenges that they have online and help them navigate,” he said.
“The biggest thing that we didn’t do as a country is … listen closely to young people.”
