As parents, we want the best for our children - opportunity, connection, and happiness. But as smartphones and social media reach younger and younger kids, many of us are left asking: Are we setting them up for success, or stress?
Netflix’s Adolescence is a powerful, confronting series that offers an unfiltered look at the digital pressures modern kids are facing. And while it focuses on teenagers, its message couldn’t be more urgent for parents of primary school-aged children.
Here’s why this show matters, and how Australian parents can take real steps to protect their children’s mental health and well-being.
1. The Pressure to Perform and Be Perfect
One of Adolescence's strongest themes is the emotional toll of being constantly “on.” Social media turns ordinary life into a performance with every moment documented, judged, and compared.
It starts younger than we think. Once a child has access to social media, they enter a world of filters, likes, and invisible metrics of popularity. Adolescence shows how this constant scrutiny breeds anxiety and low self-worth.
Thankfully, Australia is taking this seriously. The government is moving to raise the minimum age for social media accounts to 16, recognising the mounting evidence that early exposure is harmful to mental health.
2. The Erosion of Real-Life Connection
The show painfully illustrates how screens are replacing face-to-face friendships. Misunderstandings multiply over text. Kids are together physically but miles apart emotionally.
Social media gives a false sense of connection while eroding the skills kids need most - empathy, emotional intelligence, and real human interaction.
Primary school years are for play, not performance. Kids need unstructured time to build friendships, resolve conflict, and explore who they are without the pressure of an audience.
3. Mental Health: Early Signs and Long-Term Impacts
Adolescence highlights a mental health crisis playing out quietly across bedrooms and schoolyards. Depression, anxiety, sleep issues, and even self-harm are linked to excessive screen time and online pressure.
These don’t begin overnight. The seeds are often planted early, through overstimulation and constant dopamine hits from digital devices.
Protecting kids from this starts early. By pausing smartphones and delaying social media, we protect their brain development, emotional stability, and sleep patterns—laying the foundation for resilience in adolescence.
4. The Illusion of Maturity
The teens in Adolescence seem worldly but they’re still vulnerable, still developing. Giving a child access to the adult internet world doesn’t make them mature - it just makes them exposed.
Even the most “tech-savvy” kids aren’t emotionally equipped to handle cyberbullying, sexualised content, or peer pressure magnified through a screen.
The message is clear: We can’t outsource parenting to algorithms. Setting limits isn’t about being strict, it’s about being smart and protective.
What Can Aussie Parents Do?
✅ Use Wait Mate for Collective Action
It’s hard to hold the line on your own, especially when your child says “everyone else has a phone.” That’s where Wait Mate comes in. Our powerful new platform helping Australian school communities unite in delaying smartphones.
Wait Mate gives parents a way to pause, together. When families in a class or year level agree to wait on smartphones, it removes the pressure to keep up and normalises childhood free from addictive digital distractions.
✅ Delay Social Media Until at Least Age 16
This isn’t just a parenting preference, it’s becoming national policy. With the proposed age limit increase, parents have both the research and regulation behind them. Let’s use that momentum to build a culture of waiting and let’s start now even before the legislation is in effect.
✅ Keep Primary School Smartphone-Free
Children under 12 don’t need smartphones. If communication is necessary, consider basic phones or smart watches that don’t allow internet or social media access. The goal isn’t no connection - it’s safe, age-appropriate connection.
✅ Model What You Want to See
Kids mirror our habits. Put your phone down during dinner. Leave it out of bedrooms. Create screen-free zones and model the balance we hope they’ll one day practice.
Final Thoughts
Adolescence is more than a cautionary tale - it’s a mirror reflecting where we’re headed if we don’t take action now. As parents in Australia, we’re being handed a rare opportunity: government backing, growing awareness, and community tools like Wait Mate to help us say, “Not yet.”
Because childhood should be filled with real faces, not filtered ones.
Because connection should be built in the playground, not on a screen.
Because our kids deserve the space to grow up slowly - not scroll through their childhood.