Australia's social media ban: Lessons for African policymakers

SIGNING up for Vitality health insurance in the UK earlier this year taught me something about behaviour change that policymakers elsewhere might find instructive.

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To earn two months of free medical cover under our joining promotion, my wife Sithabiso and I each needed to accumulate 48 activity points for two consecutive months.

The maths is straightforward: walk 7 000 steps and earn 3 points. Hit 10 000 for 5 points. Push to 12 500 for 8. Sixteen days of moderate walking, or six days of serious effort, and a bunch of nifty shopping vouchers unlock alongside the discount.

No lectures. No prohibitions. Just a system designed to make healthy choices feel like wins.

And you best believe that S'tha and I met the mark and copped those freebies. We've also scored a handy habit boost to our regular walking regime that our future selves will no doubt thank us for.

S'tha, whose health economics research over the last decade has involved collaborations with behavioural scientists working on tricky issues such as medication adherence, calls these interventions "nudges." The term, popularised by US economist and Nobel prize winner Richard Thaler, describes choice architecture that steers behaviour without restricting options.

Mumbai's traffic police understood this when they installed decibel meters at congested intersections in 2019. If hooting exceeded 85 decibels, the red light timer reset, forcing impatient drivers to wait longer.

No new laws. No fines. Just consequences that turned the undesirable behaviour against itself. "Honk more, wait more," the signs read. Drivers got the message.

Australia's blunt instrument Australia, by contrast, has chosen to

TECH TIDES AFRICA

shove. From 10 December, platforms including Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, X, Snapchat, and Reddit must take "reasonable steps" to prevent Australians under 16 from holding accounts.