Social media benefits & risks: 9-18 years

About social media for pre-teens and teenagers

Popular social media apps among pre-teens and teenagers include BeReal, Discord, Instagram, Messenger or Messenger Kids, Pinterest, Reddit , Snapchat, TikTok, WhatsApp and YouTube Kids.

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

Using social media often involves uploading and sharing content. This includes:

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.

It’s important to talk with your child about social media. By talking, you can give your child the information they need to enjoy social media benefits and avoid its risks. You can also help your child to think critically about how social media works and how it might influence them. And open conversations can encourage your child to share their social media experiences and ask questions.

Benefits of social media for pre-teens and teenagers

Pre-teens and teenagers use social media to have fun, 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.

Your child can get many benefits from using social media:

Social life and relationships – your child might use social media to make friends and bond with family members. For teenagers especially, social media is 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, video 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 – connecting with extended family and friends and taking part in local and global online groups can give your child a sense of belonging.

Risks of social media for pre-teens and teenagers

Social media can pose risks:

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 on 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.

Guidelines for social media use

Written guidelines about social media can help your child get the benefits of social media while using it responsibly, respectfully and safely. These guidelines could be part of a family technology plan.

It’s important to negotiate social media guidelines with your child. 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 if your child is involved in making the guidelines, they’re more likely to follow them.

Here are ideas for guidelines that you could discuss and negotiate with your child.

Social media basics

When can your child use social media, and how long can your child spend on social media?
Can your child use social media during homework time, family meals and so on?
Where can your child use social media – for example, only in family areas of the house, not bedrooms?

Posts and comments

Think before posting. For example, you could encourage your child to think about why they want to post something and what reactions they might get.
Don’t upload or share inappropriate messages, images and video.
Show respect in posts and when sharing content. For example, if it’s not OK to say or do something face to face, it’s not OK online.
Seek consent before posting images of others.

Privacy protection

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.
Don’t add personal details like phone numbers or date of birth to private profiles.
Regularly check privacy and location settings on apps and devices.
Keep passwords and log-in details private, and don’t share these with friends.
Don’t use social media or other online accounts on public wi-fi.
Log out of all accounts after using public computers.

Our article on digital citizenship has more information about helping pre-teens and teenagers learn to behave respectfully and responsibly on social media.

Personal safety

Block and report people you don’t know or people who post upsetting comments or content.
Don’t click on pop-ups. These can lead to pornography or scam sites.
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.

Our articles on internet safety for pre-teens and internet safety for teenagers have more information about staying safe on social media.

Social media apps and functionality are always changing, so it’s a good idea to keep up to date with the social media your child uses. You could ask your child which platforms are popular or get them to show you how their favourite apps work. When you understand your child’s social media preferences, you can guide them towards respectful and responsible social media behaviour.

Age recommendations and restrictions for social media

Most social media apps require users to be at least 13 years old. But these age restrictions aren’t always enforced, and often pre-teens can still use the apps. If this happens, pre-teens might be exposed to adult content before they’re 18.

It can be tricky if your child’s friends are using social media apps before they’re old enough and your child wants to do the same.

If you want your child to wait, you could suggest your child uses a family social media account until they’re old enough for their own. Or you could make a joint social media account. This can give your child the chance to get familiar with social media and learn to navigate it before getting an account of their own.

Another option might be a child-friendly social media app, like YouTube Kids or Messenger Kids. These have stronger safety settings and age-appropriate content.

The Australian Government is planning to enforce a minimum social media age to protect children from online harm. And some social media apps, like Instagram, are starting to make changes to their accounts for teenagers.

Bans on social media

It can be hard for families to ban social media, even for younger children. This is because social media is increasingly part of children’s apps, games, websites and learning environments. Instead, it’s better to help your child learn how to navigate social media risks and behave respectfully on social media.

If your child does face a social media ban, you might need to help them understand why and get used to the change. For example, many schools now ban mobile phone use during school hours. If your child was used to playing games or using social media on their phone during break times, you could explain the change in school policy and suggest other things your child could do during free time at school.