North East mum in Australia thinks social media ban could bring isolation
Australia's brought in a social media ban for under 16s.
A Teesside woman - who's in Australia - reckons the social media ban for teenagers over there is going to make young people become more isolated.
The Australian Government says it's meant to make things safer online for under 16s.
Large platforms will have to block access in Australia for children, or face a fine of up to £24.7 million.
Caroline is originally from Hartlepool and spent several years in Chester-le-Street in County Durham.
She lives in Perth in Australia with her 14 year-old Hope who is affected by the ban.
Caroline said: "I thought really how are you going to police it? There's so many young people that connect through social media. It's a very polarised view I think because parents feel as though the kids might be bullying each other online, but then it's a way for young people to connect.
"Young people are using social media to connect rather than going out so I see it as a way of connection and my concern is if young people can't use that, as a way to connect, then I think we're going to see more young people actually become isolated.
"It'll make quite an impact to the relationships that Hopes has. She connects with people in the UK as well using Snapchat and other social media, so I think that'll have quite significant impact.
"I think it's quite naive really to think that young people aren't going to find ways around it. I just worry that people will find darker places to access social media, that it may have more of a detrimental effect than what the Government thinks and young people are very savvy.
"It's going to be more difficult to implement the ban in the UK because I think a lot of younger people have had social media for longer. I don't think young people here have necessarily been using social media as much so I think it will be difficult to enforce, so it would be really interesting to see how it's going to policed."
Hope said: "I think social media is a big part of people's lives, not because people are on it necessarily all the time, I think it's because all age groups have it and like everybody at one point has had social media or currently has social media.
"I think personally that social media is something to be discussed in a household and not nation/countrywide because I think it's just a matter of opinion.
"It is quite interesting to see the new laws that they're putting in around it. It's interesting to think that they're just going to have teenagers deal with it and not have people tried to figure out how to stop it or have people try to not be online.
"It's going to feel weird being like 'oh yeah, message me on this, message me on that and then you won't really be able to. You'll more likely have people's phone numbers and just have to text them through messages or WhatsApp.
"It's certainly going to feel really weird to not have those apps. I've seen people asking for numbers since we won't have social media anymore."
County Durham's Val McFarlane, the Director of the Bullying Intervention Group, said: "I think in theory it would be good to stop younger children being able to access social media before they have the skills to be able to understand the dangers out there online, the same dangers that there are in real life. There are people out there who are predators and there are people who prey on young people.
"I think it's really important though that we educate our children and young people so that they can use the internet safely. I think that's more important than banning them. If we ban them, it'll just make it more appealing, they'll find ways of getting online, they'll find ways of getting onto social media websites.
"This ban won't stop children being able to access other apps. It won't stop them being able to communicate with each other online. It's a start but I think we've got an awful long way to go.
"I fear that it may push them into the darker web and it may push them onto social media platforms that aren't responsible. I think they can still talk to other children and talk to anyone through chatrooms and through gaming, so it won't end people being vulnerable online from being bullied or from being preyed upon but it's a start.
"I think if the UK implements this law, we'll have the same problems as Australia that children and young people will still access social media platforms if they're too young. They'll find ways around it. I think what we really need to concentrate on is education. We need to make them understand that there are people out there that can harm them and that there are things out there that we don't want them to see.
"As soon as we give our children and young people these devices, we need to set up parental controls. We can them stop them from being able to speak to certain people, stop them from being able to spend money online, we can keep them safe from predators, we can monitor what they're up to online and as they grow up, we just need to keep on educating them."