Should social media be banned for over-16s too!? The 2026 Beaker Street Festival Great Debate
About this episode
The episode discusses whether social media should be banned for individuals over 16, featuring a debate at the Beaker Street Festival.
Interesting idea or nanny-state gone way too far? If babies weren't born to doom scroll, why do we think grown-ups are? Don't miss our hilarious annual battle of brains and bravado with two teams and Big Ideas' host Natasha Mitchell at the Beaker Street Festival: where science meets art. Australia was the first country in the world to ban under-16s from social media. France just struck down a push for the same. Are adults immune to all the harms of these platforms? Should OVER-16s be banned too!? TEAM AFFIRMATIVE: "THE VIRAL INFLUENZAS" Dr Esmé Louise James, sex historian Returning debate champion and sex historian, creator of the book and viral TikTok phenomenon Kinky History, co-host with her mathematician mother of two seasons of the Sextistics series on Youtube, and her first novel Becoming Venus is out on September 1, 2026. Saul Eslake, economist Saul has been chief economist at the big end of town with big banks, he now runs his own consultancy, is a Vice-Chancellor's Fellow at the University of Tasmania, advises Australia's Parliamentary Budget Office, serves on the Council on the Ageing, and is a regular expert chatterbox in the media. Dr Meredith Castles, human-computer…
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