Different Ways to Stay Connected After the Under 16’s Social Media Ban

Keep in contact when socials are a no-go

In less than a month, teens all around Australia are going to lose access to social media.

While Australia's world-first social media ban does not come into effect until 10 December, Meta has warned it will start axing the accounts of under 16s from 4 December.

If you’re feeling lost, frustrated or worried it’ll stop you from being able to easily talk to your friends – that’s totally fair.

But don’t fret! There are other ways to keep in contact with people in your life without social media.

First things first, download your content (or else it'll get deleted).

Meta has given hundreds of thousands of teens a two-week warning to “download or delete” their data.

If you’re keen to save your photos and videos from Instagram, Facebook and Threads you can do it super easily.

As per the ABC, here’s how to download your data from a Meta account:

1. Head to your Meta accounts centre in the settings menu of your Facebook, Instagram or Threads account.
2. Click which profile you’d like to export info from then choose to export to your device or an external service (like a cloud storage service).
3. Enter in an email where you’ll be notified once the export is ready.
4. Select which format you’d like the download the data in – HTML or JSON which
5. allows you to import the data to another site or app.
6. Click start export.

What’s included in the download?

Your activity: Depending on the platform, this can include any posts you've created or groups you belong to.

Connections: Who you've connected with and how you've connected with them.

Security and login information: Technical information and logged activity related to your accounts.

Ad information: Your interactions with ads and advertisers on the platforms.

Personal information: The info you provided when you set up your accounts/profiles.

Preferences: Actions you took to customise your experience.

Apps and websites: Apps you own, and any activity gathered from apps/websites off the platforms.

Logged information: Info Meta has logged about your activity, such as search history.

Here are some non-social-media (or “less social media-like”) platforms and offline ways to stay in contact with your friends.

Switch to messaging apps.

As obvious as it is, you can use WhatsApp, Messenger, Discord or iMessage to talk to people without all the extra distraction that social media brings.

On platforms like WhatsApp you can also set up a ‘WhatsApp Community’ where users can connect over shared interests, etc. There are announcements sections, different groups within the community and the regular chat function.

Make sure you grab everyone’s emails, usernames depending on the platform or phone numbers to be able to actually use these platforms.

Check out online games.

Why not do something a bit more stimulating than doom-scrolling while chatting to friends? Most online games have built-in chat functions where you can talk or you can voice call on Discord.

There’s heaps of free games online like Roblox, Gidd.io (features a bunch of different games). Skribbl, Among Us, Boardgame Arena, Codenames and so many more.

Or you can check out the Steam store for a range of games you can download and play with friends like Supermarket Together, Quatro!, Prison Life or Bucket Brawl. You can check out a huge list of free multiplayer Steam games here.

Pull out the pen and paper.

Time to get analogue! Dust off that paper and grab those pens – it’s time to write letters to friends because you can’t reach them through Instagram.

In all seriousness, writing letters between friends can be a great way to stay connected and a bit more in the moment.

You can get as creative as you want with it – include photos, stickers, etc. The sky’s the limit!

Email and private groups.

Speaking of analogue (sort of) you can start an email chain with your friends to stay connected.

Use it for planning, sharing news or anything exciting going on in your lives.

While it is frustrating to have social media banned and it can feel unfair – try to think about the potential benefits. Social media can be a really toxic place that can create insecurities and make us feel all out of sorts

You don’t need to know every second of every day of your friend’s lives and taking a break from the feeds could turn out to be quite beneficial.