On December 10, Australia will take one of the most significant steps in child protection we’ve seen in decades: banning social-media platforms from allowing under-16s to create or maintain accounts.
Predictably, the tech giants are complaining. Influencers are wailing. Even some teenagers are staging tiny (and frankly adorable) digital rebellions.
But this isn’t a moment for parental panic.
It’s a moment for leadership.
Because for far too long, social media has been raising our children — and not doing a very good job of it.
As a child and adolescent psychologist, I’ve spent nearly four decades listening to what young people tell me behind closed doors. I can tell you this: nothing has warped childhood more than the algorithmic slot machines sitting in their pockets.
And yes — removing that digital dopamine drip is going to cause withdrawal, pushback and dramatic sighing worthy of a Netflix teen drama.
But here’s the good news:
You can absolutely do this.
And your kids will thank you for it — eventually.
1. Talk to your kids BEFORE December 10
Don’t wait until Instagram or Snapchat locks them out.
Sit down — no phones, no screens — and say something like:
“This new law is about protecting young people, not punishing them. Your job is to grow up safely. My job is to help you do that.”
Be firm. Be calm. Be collaborative.
This is not the moment for apologetic parenting.
2. Expect grief — but don’t negotiate reality
When social media disappears, many kids will go through the same psychological stages I see when I ask teens to detox:
Denial
Anger
Bargaining (“But what if I just check TikTok for homework?”)
Sadness
Acceptance
Your job is to shepherd them through this process, not install loopholes.
3. Replace the online world with the real world
Children don’t cope well with a vacuum — they fill it.
So YOU help fill it with what childhood used to have in abundance:
Board games. Card games. Real conversations. Cooking. Music. Walking the dog. Crafts. Sport. Riding bikes. Learning a skill.
Remember those? They still exist — and they’re still brilliant for developing brains.
In my consulting room, the teens who thrive are the ones whose parents invest in real-world rituals:
family dinners
weekend activities
shared hobbies
bedtime reading
even a Sunday morning café hot chocolate
These are not quaint relics. They’re protective psychological architecture.
4. Reintroduce boredom — yes, boredom
One of the greatest gifts you can give your child is the ability to be bored.
Boredom is the birthplace of creativity, problem-solving and resilience.
Social media never allowed boredom — it surgically removed it.
On December 10, boredom becomes your new best friend.
5. Prioritise connection, not supervision
Don’t turn your house into a surveillance state.
Turn it into a family.
Talk. Walk. Play. Listen.
Model offline life.
Show them what joy looks like without a screen glowing between two people.
Our kids don’t need a digital parole officer.
They need adults who are present.
6. Remind them: Their value is not measured in likes
For a whole generation, self-worth has been tied to algorithms designed by Silicon Valley engineers who wouldn’t let their own children near the products they built.
December 10 is your chance to reclaim the narrative.
Tell your child:
“You are worth more than any number on a screen. Real people who love you matter far more than strangers who scroll past you.”
7. Make December 10 turning point, not a punishmen
Celebrate it.
Mark it.
Create a family tradition:
a board-game night
a special dinner
a digital-detox day
a picnic
or a sunset walk
Let your child feel the shift not as a loss, but as a return —
a return to childhood as it was meant to be:
messy, playful, creative, curious, connected.
On December 10, the Australian Government will unplug the algorithm from our children.
But it’s up to parents to plug them back into life.
And I can promise you this:
Twenty years from now, your children won’t remember the likes they lost.
But they will remember the conversations you had, the walks you took, the games you played, and the time you gave them.
That’s the stuff that builds resilient kids — and lifelong humans.
Now’s our chance.
Let’s take it.