'Inappropriate for young minds': Do Australia's kids support a social media ban?

Australian kids have responded to the government's plan to introduce legislation to ban social media for children with mixed opinions.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese yesterday announced the government's intention to introduce a bill to stop children and younger teenagers from accessing social media.

Albanese said the government was considering enforcing a minimum age range between 14 and 16.

READ MORE: Young girl with rare condition gets first ever pair of shoes

Axel Newell, 16, admitted he was addicted to Snapchat and TikTok before attending a nine-day boot camp aimed at social media addiction.

He said he ultimately thought the legislation was a good idea.

"Look If I was any younger than 16 I probably wouldn't like the idea, but I feel like it is appropriate," he told A Current Affair.

"Some of the things you do see on social media is inappropriate for young minds and eyes to see.

"Through social media I was introduced to drugs ... I completely regret that decision ... and I feel like it should be banned for people under 16."

But 15-year-old student Matilda said she was capable of moderating her social media usage and "wouldn't be very happy" if a ban was enforced.

"I feel like the amount of connection I have with my friends and the amount of positives that it actually does give me, in my personal experience outweighs the negatives that I have experienced," she said.

READ MORE: Brother continues fight for veteran suicide victim as royal commission wraps up

"I think we definitely do need to look at some form of minimising these negative effects of social media, however I don't think a ban's gonna be the right way to do it."

Fellow student Gabby Fleming said she believed young Australians would find loopholes to access social media.

"It's better to take a proactive approach, you know, educating young people on the risk, making sure they understand why these precautions need to be taken and I think that would be much more effective than a straight ban because people would ultimately just find their way around it," she said.

Parenting expert Dr Justin Coulson agreed education was vital to changing the attitude of children using social media.

"We've gotta educate our young people and help them to make safe, healthy decisions," Coulson said.

"The problem is not enough education is happening, too may parents are abrogating the responsibility around this and too many kids are simply doing whatever they want."

But he said enforcing a ban would set an appropriate precedent.

"We have bans on alcohol under 18 and people do find ways around it, but legislation draws a line in the sand and says this behaviour is not acceptable, we don't condone this," he said.

Watch the full video in the player above.