Leo Puglisi speaks to Channel 7 about social media ban for teens | 6 News

Victoria's Premier is poised to follow the South Australian lead on age limits for social media as revealed exclusively on 7 news last night jend Allen says she agrees with Peter melan ascus that age limits can help parents and protect kids and she signaled Victoria will follow suit with a ban for under 14s the draft South Australian Bill sets heavy penalties for any social media Outlets that breach the age rule 14 and 15y olds would also need parental consent to use social media now for a different perspective let's bring in a teenager who's been active on socials since he was 13 and has run his own online news service since he was 11 Leo pagi really appreciate your time today first of all what is your position on lifting this minimum age look I mean 13 seems pretty sensible right it's the age we're going into High School it makes a lot of sense now if we raise it to 14 I'm not sure what kind of difference that would make but fundamentally I think that social media is part of daily lives now it's an integral part of many people's uh work and just average communication and so I think it's important for teenagers to be able to be using that to be on there to be able to have you know education about it without just Banning them because I think a ban would just spur them on to see what I guess is being hidden from them if they're told you know they can't use it and you might be right there Leo you've obviously been as we all have subjected to some strong criticism daily for me on Twitter and some nasty bullying too since you're about 14 can you you're 16 now I understand can you see why many parents and Community leaders want these protections because many adults feel hopeless in this space yeah no I completely understand it and I don't doubt that there are real concerns and people can have awful experiences as you can say right this industry is pretty common getting nasty comments on it um but I think it's really a matter for individuals there'll be a you know 18 19 20-year-old who might respond I guess you could say worse to a hateful comment than a 14 15y old might it's it's a matter for individuals which comes down to having conversations with parents who I think know their kids best uh and addressing it there now you can have crackdowns on bullying and and violent speech on that on those platforms that can affect all users positively um but really I can just see a lot of negatives that would come with such a ban yeah Leo you seem to me uh like you're very mature for 16 you're very well read very well educated but there's a lot of kids out there that aren't in your situation and they don't have that support they don't have someone to go to when social media gets too much and you know have someone talk them through it they don't have that support network isn't that worrying for them no I totally agree that it is worrying and I think that's where education comes in really important look as teenagers and even before when I was in primary school right we get some you know patronizing seminars from uh people who I guess you know aren't from our age group talking about and then a lot of parents they don't have any education on social media so I think yeah education's really important but there can be other support um channels mind you of course there are plenty of teenagers who use social media as a support network if they're they're lonely they they look for some friends online and they find other teenagers on there I think it's really important and I'd hate to see that taken away from them when they genuinely need it yeah there's lots of bad but there's lots of good too I will agree with that thank you so much Leo it was a real pleasure to chat with you today [Music] [Music]