by Vicky Lee, ClickView, Australia.
Young people are not simply using social media; they are being used by it. Features such as push notifications, infinite scroll and algorithmically curated feeds are deliberate design choices, engineered to capture and hold users’ attention. Despite this, many classroom resources addressing social media still focus narrowly on cyberbullying or online safety compliance. The Social Media Trap, a nine-part educational video series, sets out to do something more ambitious: to give young people the tools to understand how social media actually works and how they can use this knowledge to improve their own relationship with platforms and apps.
A timely resource in a rapidly shifting landscape
This video series arrives at a moment of unusual policy momentum. In November 2024, Australia passed legislation banning children under the age of 16 from using social media platforms, informed by research from Australia’s eSafety Commissioner on the online experiences of children and young people. The law, which came into force in December 2025, places the compliance burden on platforms and is, to-date, the most far-reaching age restriction of its kind. It has prompted international debate about both its feasibility and underlying rationale.
Since then, various countries have considered introducing similar age-based restrictions or enhanced platform accountability measures, including France, Greece, Spain and the United Kingdom in recent months. At the same time, critics argue that restricting access does little to build the critical skills young people need to live safely in a digital world. Similarly, teachers and other educators face considerable challenges in ensuring their students feel supported. In a 2025 survey of more than 400 educators, ClickView found that only 6% felt fully prepared to deal with the classroom impacts of the social media ban, and two-thirds wanted clear guidance on the restrictions.
It is this uncertainty and desire for resources that makes a series like The Social Media Trap so relevant now. Rather than treating the question of social media as resolved, the series encourages young people to engage with social media thoughtfully: to understand the systems at work, to weigh the evidence and to develop their own informed perspectives.
What the series covers
Designed for secondary school students aged 13–18, The Social Media Trap looks at adolescent social media use without demonising the technology. The series explores diverse viewpoints on social media through three main lenses.
Firstly, it starts with young people’s perspectives by featuring video diaries from five teenagers during a two-week ‘detox’ from social media. Their reflections provide a direct insight into young people’s personal relationships with social media. Secondly, it dissects those perspectives by bringing together insights from industry and academic experts, including a psychologist, a psychiatrist, social media researchers and a technologist. Thirdly, the overarching narrative and themes of the series are explored through a presenter who acts as a neutral storyteller, offering concise summaries of key points and inviting viewers to reflect on their own feelings about social media.
By the end of the series, students should understand how persuasive design features are engineered to maximise engagement, be aware of the psychological effects of social comparison and validation metrics and be able to relate this knowledge to real-world examples, including viral trends and regulatory responses. Crucially, the series also asks students to reflect on their own digital habits and to develop the critical awareness that makes informed choice possible.
A complete video package for teachers and students
The Social Media Trap is available on ClickView, a trusted video platform for over 11,000 schools, one million teachers and seven million students worldwide. As part of its mission to reach every student through video, ClickView is home to curated, curriculum-aligned, ad-free videos for every subject and learning level, complemented by classroom-ready resources to help students explore, explain and evaluate their learning.
Resources for this series include a glossary, inquiry-based learning tasks, structured discussion prompts and debate activities, as well as a Youth Toolkit created by the Center for Humane Technology, a non-profit organisation focused on minimising harms from technology. These resources help educators facilitate conversations on the themes of the series and help students deepen their understanding of this important topic.
For not only young people navigating the complex topic of social media, but also their teachers and other educators, The Social Media Trap is a nuanced and grounded starting point for classroom conversations that go well beyond the headlines.
Author
Vicky Lee is the Commissioning Lead at ClickView, the trusted video platform for over 11,000 schools, one million teachers and seven million students worldwide.
