For some teenagers, 'life is better' without social media and they support the ban

Patrick, 15, doesn't use social media and hopes he never does.

"I don't want to fall into that trap," he says.

"You see the kids, they're walking along with their phones when they could be talking to their friends, and you're just like, 'I don't want to be like that.'"

He says even the term "social media" is misleading.

"The companies, they pitch it as like, 'Talk to your friends, share, be social,' when I sort of see it as destroying our social relationships," Patrick says.

"I don't want it stealing my data. I don't want it understanding me better than I understand myself. That is scary."

For Patrick, a "boring" phone is actually the best kind of phone.

Right now, he is using his dad's old smartphone, and has made some settings changes to minimise his screen time.

Patrick has turned off most notifications, switched on "greyscale" — a feature that turns all your phone's colours black and white — and has even chosen not to fix the cracks on the phone screen.

"I'm just trying to make myself not get hooked really," he says.

'I don't want it'

Patrick's attitude towards social media isn't exactly common among teenagers.

"When I say I don't have it, their main response is like, 'Why?'" he says.

"I say, 'I don't want it. It's not part of who I am.'

"I'm happy living under my rock. I'm cool with that."

And he's not alone.

In fact, he has a large group of friends who share his aversion to social media.

Like Nick, 15, who had a flip phone for the first few years of high school.

"It certainly saved me a bunch of time in my life having no social media and having a flip phone."

Their friendship group prioritises in-person hangouts, and they don't message each other that often when they're not together.

Lenard, 15, says this decision has made them better friends.

But that doesn't mean they avoid technology.

In fact, playing video games together is a favourite pastime, and Patrick says computers and the internet are wonderful tools.

"I'd say technology is great — love technology," Patrick says.

"I use it all the time. I play games, I learn, I do school work on technology.

"I hate social media because of the way it exploits technology to get you addicted, to steal your money, to steal your attention, to steal your data."

Outside of the mainstream

Patrick's friends are among a small but growing movement around the world of young people choosing to limit or give up social media.

A group of teens in New York gained global attention in 2022 after forming The Luddite Club, referencing the anti-industrial machinery movement of the 19th century to signal their own distaste for modern technology.

None of the members of The Luddite Club have social media, and many of them have made the switch from smartphones to dumb phones.

It's a movement that Nick fully supports.

"How cool would it be if flip phones came back into fashion? That would be epic. Not gonna lie," Nick says.

But stepping outside of the mainstream is difficult, and Nick says he has suffered social consequences for giving up social media.

"Everybody has it, and they're able to make jokes in reference to what they saw on social media," Nick says.

"I feel left out by that, you know?"

'Naturally addictive'

Nick loved his flip phone, but when it broke, he bought a smartphone, and started using social media.

"Now I have, well, everything but TikTok," Nick says.

"I've found them all very naturally addictive, which I kind of hate, honestly.

"It's horrible. I would wake up at one [o'clock] every morning, and I would automatically just go to my phone to see if I have any notifications."

He says he plans to quit one day, but knows it will be difficult.

"There's gonna be like a little devil on my shoulder telling me to always get it because everybody else is going to have it," he says.

"I need to work out how to overcome that — overcome the algorithms, overcome that desire."

It's one of the reasons why Nick and Patrick support Australia's world-first social media ban, which will become law on December 10.

"I think I did a cartwheel when I found out," Patrick says.

"People don't seem to have the self control to stay off social media themselves, so this is how we start getting that self control before you fully mature, right?"

Although Nick, like many teenagers, is sceptical about how effective the law will be.

"I see it as an excellent step towards a future ban, but it's not going to solve things. It's just putting a bandaid over a bullet wound."

For them, a better world is one where social media doesn't exist.

"Life is so much better without social media," Patrick says.

"How much life do I have? How much of that do I want to spend watching other people's lives? That's sad."