Enslaved by big tech

'Addiction is a big word," said one commentator, grandly dismissing the proposal that we follow Australia's ban on social media for children under 16. Hearing this, I reached for some of my own big words. Addiction is certainly relevant in this context. If you accept that users get hooked on gambling machines, I don't know why you'd scoff at the notion of addiction to social media.

- Charlotte Grimshaw

Social media platforms, like pokie machines, are specifically designed to create and foster addiction, using a system of intermittent variable rewards. This is why, according to their own testimony, executives of social media companies don't allow their children to use them. They want to avoid the damage, whether it's anxiety, self-harm or depression.

It should be parents who regulate online use, is another argument. On that logic, we could allow casinos to serve 12-year-olds alcohol and let them loose on the one arm bandits, so long as they've asked their mother. It's clear that prohibition doesn't work, and that regulation requires nuance. But it's surely reasonable to restrict the activities of children.

I've taken an interest in legal bans ever since I worked as a solicitor in a commercial law firm. We acted for tobacco companies, compiling submissions against the smokefree environments legislation. I spent hours writing opinions on statutory interpretation and ways to circumvent the law.