Together, or together alone? Teens and adults debate social media's good, bad and ugly

Big Ideas

The Australian federal government wants to restrict social media to those aged over 16. Would that work? Adult and teen experts mount their arguments for and against social media and its harms and benefits.

The Great Debate was presented by the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia as part of 2024 Social Sciences Week, recorded at the National Library of Australia on 10 September 2024.

Speakers

STUDENT DEBATEFeaturing Year 7 and 8 students at University of Canberra High School Kaleen

Host Ivy Affirmative team Misha, Sienna and Jacob

Negative teamUmar, Addy and Shreya

ADULT DEBATE

Lisa Given Professor of Information Sciences, RMIT University

Anthony Elliott Distinguished Professor of Sociology, University of South AustraliaAuthor, Algorithms of Anxiety: Fear in the Digital Age

Ginger Gorman (host) Journalist and author of the book Troll Hunting: Inside the World of Online Hate and Its Human FalloutHost of the Seriously Social podcast