Constructing Risk: Media and Policy Representations of Children’s Social Media Use How Australian Media and Policy Constructed Children's Social Media Use as a Problem, 2021-2025

Abstract

This thesis examines how children’s use of social media has been constructed as a societal problem between 2021 and 2025, using Australia as a case study. Adopting a mixed-methods design, the study combines quantitative content analysis of 163 articles from four major Australian newspapers with qualitative policy analysis of the Online Safety Act 2021 and the Online Safety Amendment (Social Media Minimum Age) Act 2024, applying Carol Bacchi’s (2009) “What’s the Problem Represented to be?” framework. The findings reveal an overwhelmingly negative media discourse, where children’s social media use is increasingly framed as harmful and risky. The WPR analysis demonstrates that both media and policy domains align in constructing children as vulnerable subjects in need of protection, effectively silencing youth agency and the effects of platform design. At the same time, positioning platforms and government responsible for mitigating harm. While media narratives link specific platforms to individual harms, policy frameworks maintain a broad definition of “social media services”. By synthesising these findings, the thesis illustrates how media-amplified anxieties and policy converge in ways that may legitimise regulatory governance, contributing to global debates on digital rights and social media regulation.