From prohibition to social media - what makes bans succeed ... or fail?

All In The Mind

ABC

Science, Health & Fitness, Life Sciences

4.4 • 785 Ratings

🗓️ 6 December 2025

⏱️ 30 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

From the prohibition era in the US, to gun control in Australia, bans have been used throughout history to change behaviour.

Sometimes they work, sometimes they don't. Sometimes, they lead to a whole lot of unintended consequences.

With the social media ban for under-16’s taking effect this week, we uncover the three factors that can determine whether a ban is more likely to succeed or fail – and find out what the history of bans tells us about how effective this policy might be (or not).

Plus – how solid is the research on the link between mental ill health and social media use?

You can catch up on more episodes of the All in the Mind podcast with journalist and presenter Sana Qadar, exploring the psychology of topics like stress, memory, communication and relationships on the ABC Listen app (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts.

Guests:

Dr Alexis WhittonAssociate Professor and psychologistThe Black Dog Institute and University of New South WalesDr Kate Harrison BrennanProfessor of Practice and Academic Director of the Sydney Policy LabHonorary Associate at the Sydney Law SchoolUniversity of SydneySeb, Eva, Ciara, Lily

With additional thanks to Associate Professor Susanne Schweizer, from the University of New South Wales.

Credits:

Presenter/producer: Sana Qadar
Senior producer: James Bullen
Producer: Rose Kerr
Sound engineer: Micky Grossman

A big thank you to everyone who sent us emails and voice memos with their thoughts on the social media ban. We couldn't include everyone but we appreciate getting to hear your perspectives.

Thanks to freesound.org users TRP and davidbain

More information:

Support for under-16 social media ban soars to 77% among Australians

Illegal tobacco is a deadly $10 billion industry wiping out legitimate businesses

Smoking rates continue to decline while vaping triples, national household drug survey shows

Psychological reactance to system-level policies before and after their implementation

The presence of laws and mandates is associated with increased social norm enforcement

Youth mental health enters 'dangerous phase'

Social psychologist and author of best-selling book The Anxious Generation Jonathan Haidt talks to News Breakfast about Australia's world-first under 16 social media ban — ABC Lifestyle

eSafety appoints Stanford University-led academic advisory group to assess the impacts of the Social Media Minimum Age obligation Digital mental health, Black Dog Institute

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hello, my name is Nij, and I host Imagine This, a science podcast for curious kids and
0:12.4	their grown-ups about the questions you've probably always pondered, but never actually known the
0:17.4	whole answer to, like how do magnets push and pull. Why is due on everything
0:23.3	in the morning? And how does sunscreen actually work? Find Imagine this on the ABC Listen app,
0:30.0	or wherever you get your podcasts.
0:43.1	Welcome to 1925 in the United States of America.
0:51.7	The country is five years into prohibition, which means, officially at least, the sale of alcohol is banned across the country. Old Manhattan and martini have received a big subpoenae, every day'll be Sunday when the towel goes dry.
1:00.0	But that doesn't stop a lot of people.
1:02.0	Bootlegging, the illegal production and smuggling of alcohol into the country from neighboring places like Canada or Mexico,
1:10.0	that's become more common. Speak-easies spring up across major hubs like Canada or Mexico, that's become more common.
1:11.6	Speak-Easies spring up across major hubs like New York City, and customers just gotta cross
1:16.9	their fingers and hope that police won't discover these clandestine setups.
1:21.1	537 barrels of unmentionable beverage with $30,000 worth.
1:26.4	And the wrecking gang leave but a memory of dark brown
1:29.8	ale.
1:30.3	But by the late 1920s, opposition to the laws among the American public is growing.
1:36.3	In some cities, violent crimes increase under prohibition, the opposite of what the ban was
1:41.5	meant to achieve.
1:42.9	And in 1933, a little more than a decade after it began,
1:47.3	prohibition is repealed.
1:49.4	The lid is off in many places, with the downfall of prohibition
1:54.6	being celebrated in real old-time hilaric.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from ABC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of ABC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.