Senators and experts will gather in Canberra today to discuss the federal government’s social media ban on under-16s.

A ban has bipartisan support and the legislation is likely to be passed before Christmas, with the urgent inquiry expected to report by Tuesday.

The proposal has sparked controversy, with many experts questioning how it will be implemented and how effective it will be.

But one group has been largely excluded from this debate: young people who will be affected by a ban.

Communication breakdown

The ABC spoke to year seven students at Damascus College, a co-educational school in Ballarat, to find out what they thought of the proposed ban.

When asked what the consequences of a ban on Facebook, TikTok, Instagram and Snapchat could be, the general feeling is that communication between friends will become more difficult.

“The downside would be not being able to talk to your friends as much,” Ray said.

Another student, Sadie, agreed.

“It would make it harder for some kids to reunite with their friends who go to different schools,” she said.

“I have a friend who goes to (Ballarat girls’ school) Loreto College (and) I only have Snapchat to talk to her.”

But Sadie said she wasn’t too worried about a proposed ban on social media for children her age.

“It would be harder to talk to (my friend), but other than that, I don’t think it would be that bad (for me),” she said.

“I’m happy to have been selected”

Students interviewed by ABC said they and their peers primarily used Snapchat, Instagram and TikTok.

One student, Annabelle, didn’t use social media and admitted that she was a bit of an outlier in today’s world.

“It’s sometimes difficult, especially socially, to be able to integrate,” she said.

Annabelle said she was sure social media was causing harm to people her age.

“I think it impacts how they interact with each other, even outside of the device,” she said.

The federal government indicated that YouTube would likely be exempt from the ban — a move that another student, Finn, agreed with.

“Snapchat and Instagram are probably (harmful), but maybe not YouTube, because it’s harder to message someone on YouTube if they haven’t posted any videos or anything, compared to Snapchat and Instagram,” he said.

Breaking the law

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has already said there will be no penalties for underage users or parents who ignore or circumvent the proposed ban, with the focus instead being on tech companies.

So, would young people try to break the law to access social networks?

Ray and Sadie said they wouldn’t worry about it.

Annabelle agreed, but said “there are a lot of other things to do besides being on social media.”

One student the ABC spoke to readily admitted he would try to get around the law “in case I got bored”.

It’s unclear how the platforms will verify the age of their users, but the federal government has said social media companies will be responsible for enforcing the law or risk being fined.