Social media benefits and risks for teenagers

What social media do teenagers use?

Popular social media apps among teenagers include BeReal, Discord, Instagram, Kick, Messenger, Pinterest, Reddit , Snapchat, Threads, TikTok and Twitch.

Online chat in multiplayer video games – like League of Legends, Clash of Clans and The Sims – is also a popular social media option.

The Australian Government has passed a law called the Online Safety Amendment (Social Media Minimum Age) Bill 2024. This law says that you must be aged 16 years or older to hold an account on social media platforms like TikTok, Instagram and Snapchat. Younger teenagers can still use child-friendly social media apps like Messenger Kids. Read more about the social media ban and how to help your child handle it.

Why and how do teenagers use social media?

Teenagers use social media to have fun and relax, learn new things, explore identity, develop family relationships, connect with friends, and get support. It’s an extension of their offline and face-to-face interactions.

Teenagers on social media are often uploading and sharing content. For example, they might be:

creating online profiles
posting comments or chatting
uploading photos and videos
reacting to or ‘liking’ other people’s posts
sharing links
tagging photos and content
creating and sharing game modifications
remixing or changing existing content and sharing it.

What are the benefits of social media for teenagers?

Social media can be good for your teenage child in many ways:

Social life and relationships – your child might use social media to make friends and bond with family members. Social media can be a key way to connect with others.
Learning – your child can use social media to better understand, extend or share what they’re learning at school, either informally or in formal school settings.
Hobbies and interests – your child can use social media to follow their interests and learn new ones. For example, they might enjoy commenting on and sharing content about games, TV series, music and so on.
Creativity – your child can be creative with profile pages, images, videos and game modifications.
Identity – social media can connect your child to online groups that support teenagers with disability or medical conditions, LGBTIQ+ teenagers, or teenagers from their own cultural background.
Mental health and wellbeing – using social media to connect with extended family and friends and take part in local and global online groups can give your child a sense of belonging.

What are the risks of social media for teenagers?

There are risks for your child if they use social media:

Exposure to inappropriate or upsetting content – your child might see mean, aggressive, violent or sexual comments or images.
Risky behaviour – your child might upload embarrassing or provocative photos or videos of themselves or others or share personal information with strangers.
Cyberbullying – someone might use digital technology to deliberately and repeatedly upset, frighten, threaten or hurt your child online.
Targeted advertising – advertisers might use your child’s personal information to influence the advertisements your child sees and their desire to buy things.
Data breaches – your child’s data might be sold to organisations they don’t know about.
Pressure to engage – your child might feel pressure to maintain a ‘streak’ or retain followers and stressed if they can’t keep it up.
Influence of algorithms – your child’s feed might become focused and unbalanced. This might reinforce unrealistic or harmful ideas or attitudes. It could also steer your child towards negative content or unsafe people or communities.

Why it’s important to talk to your teen about social media use

It’s important to talk with your child about social media as they get older.

By having open and nonjudgmental conversations about social media, you can:

give your child the information they need to enjoy the benefits of social media and avoid its risks
encourage your child to think critically about how social media works and how it might influence them
encourage your child to ask questions and share their social media experiences, especially things they feel uncomfortable about.

Social media apps and functionality are always changing. You could ask your child which platforms are popular or get them to show you how their favourite apps work. This is a great way to keep the social media conversation going. And when you understand your child’s social media preferences, you can guide them towards respectful and responsible social media behaviour.

Social media guidelines for your teen and family

Even as your child gets older, guidelines for social media use can help them use social media in healthy, respectful and safe ways.

Negotiation is the key to social media guidelines for older teenagers. Negotiating gives you the chance to hear what’s important to your child and encourages your child to take responsibility for their own behaviour. And negotiation involves your child in making the guidelines, which means they’ll be more likely to follow them.

Also, guidelines will work best if you follow them too. This is important role-modelling and can help your child build good habits. Your family guidelines could even become part of a family technology plan.

What to consider when you’re negotiating social media guidelines

Social media use and schoolwork – for example, should your child aim to finish homework before going on social media, or could they have timed social media use as a ‘reward’ between homework tasks?
Appropriate times to use social media in your home – for example, is it OK for your child to be on social media at mealtimes, when family is visiting, or in front of younger siblings?
Family follows and comments – for example, how does your child feel about you or other family members following them? What about comments on their posts? They might be happy for you to follow or like posts but would prefer that you don’t leave comments.
Posts – for example, should you ask for consent before posting photos of other people? Should you avoid posting photos that identify your house? Should you write only things that you’d be comfortable saying to someone face to face?

Tips for privacy protection and personal safety on social media

Personal information and privacy settings

Don’t share personal information like location and date of birth – for example, by giving this information to strangers online, posting photos with identifying information, doing online quizzes and so on.
Set your profiles to private and avoid adding personal details like a phone number or date of birth to profiles.
Regularly check privacy and location settings on apps and devices.
Keep passwords and log-in details private. Don’t share these with friends.

Public computers and networks

Avoid using social media or other online accounts on public wi-fi.
Log out of all accounts after using public computers.

Personal safety

Block and report people you don’t know or people who post upsetting comments or content.
Accept friend requests only from people whose identity you know.
Take screenshots of concerning things you see online, and talk to a trusted adult about them.
Don’t click pop-ups. These can lead to pornography or scam sites.

For more information about helping teenagers stay safe and behave respectfully and responsibly online, you can check out our articles on digital citizenship and online safety for teenagers.