Rethinking social media policies for young people | Anna Curzon | TEDxWaihī Beach

Anna Curzon opens with her personal experience of her daughter's mental health deterioration within six months of gaining access to social media, which prompted her to investigate the broader pattern. She discovered that parents, educators, and healthcare workers across multiple countries were experiencing similar concerns but had no guidance or support. This led to the formation of the 'Before 16' movement with youth workers, parents, pediatricians, principals, and other concerned adults.

Curzon presents key data showing that across Australia, New Zealand, the US, UK, and Canada, youth mental health remained stable until 2012, when social media was integrated into smartphones. After 2012, there was dramatic increases in depression, anxiety, and other mental health issues. In New Zealand specifically, there was a 400% increase in psychological distress among young people in the past decade, with three out of four young people citing mental health as their number one life concern.

The core of her argument focuses on understanding the business model of social media companies. She explains that these are not social businesses but advertising companies whose primary metric is user attention. They operate through an 'attention economy' where users trade their attention and data for free platform access, which is then monetized by selling targeted advertising. In 2022 alone, social media companies earned $11 billion from advertising targeted at users under 18 in the US.

Curzon details the psychological manipulation tactics embedded in social media design, noting that features like infinite scroll, push notifications, autoplay videos, and pull-to-refresh functionality are borrowed directly from slot machine and casino psychology. The companies deliberately hire people who design slot machines to develop their apps. She emphasizes that algorithms are built with no ethical bias and indiscriminately promote content that keeps users engaged, including harmful material about self-harm, eating disorders, and suicide.

She cites filmmaker Nadia Maxwell's experiments showing that Instagram feeds became loaded with pro-eating disorder content within 24 hours of creating a 13-year-old profile, and TikTok served suicide content within 22 minutes—demonstrating this is intentional, not accidental. Curzon references Meta's 2024 lawsuit and internal documents where Meta employees described Instagram as 'like a drug' and themselves as 'pushers,' proving companies knowingly designed addictive platforms.

Curzon notes the absence of regulatory protection in New Zealand, contrasting it with countries like Australia, France, Spain, India, and China that have implemented age restrictions or regulatory frameworks. She highlights that New Zealand spends $20 billion annually (5% of GDP) on mental health while youth mental health worsens, making this an economic and health crisis requiring urgent regulatory action.

She concludes with personal accountability, describing how she removed social media apps from her home screen after her daughter's disapproving look, emphasizing that individuals have agency. She calls on society to recognize that childhood should not be a revenue line for tech companies and advocates for collective action to restrict social media access before age 16.