WA mum Anita McSweeney fears alternative platforms will ‘multiply like gremlins’ in wake of social media ban

City Beach mother-of-two Anita McSweeney is deeply worried about the threat smartphones cause to childhood. But she believes the handling of the social media ban has been a “circus”, and predicts that alternatives to the now-banned TikTok, Instagram and Snapchat will keep “multiplying like gremlins” as teens seek to get around the new laws. Ms McSweeney’s daughters Macy, 11, and Lulu, 10, have iPhones but are not allowed social media, and can only use their devices at set times. Ms McSweeney, who wrote a children’s book on self-regulation called Macy’s First Phone, said the ban would fail unless children were taught how to manage their reactions and behaviour. “Education is the answer, and forming habits and routines for life,” she said. “As parents and educators we need to focus on what we can control, and that is the time spent on devices, teaching self regulation in primary school and teaching planned usage in the curriculum before it is too late. She urged parents to model the behaviour they wanted to see in their children when it came to smartphone use, but was aware of some families who planned to help their children flout the new restrictions. “It’s about the quantity of time they spend on phones that is the main issue. Planning phone usage instead of reaching for the phone in an addictive manner for four to six hours a day, that should be parents’ main concern.” “The ban is not a solution, it’s a Band-Aid on a gushing wound that the government is applying over youth mental health issues.”