XPost: aus.politics, alt.politics.media, sac.politics   
   XPost: misc.news.internet.discuss   
   From: noreply@mixmin.net   
      
   For the first time in years, Amy feels free.   
      
   One month since Australia's teen social media ban kicked in, she says   
   she is "disconnected from my phone" and her daily routine has changed.   
      
   The 14-year-old first felt the pangs of online addiction in the days   
   after the ban started.   
      
   "I knew that I was still unable to access Snapchat - however, from   
   instinct, I still reached to open the app in the morning," she wrote on   
   day two of the ban in a diary she kept for the first week afterwards.   
      
   By day four of the ban – when ten platforms including Facebook,   
   Instagram and TikTok went dark for thousands of Australian children aged   
   16 and under – she had started to question the magnetic pull of   
   Snapchat.   
      
   "While it's sad that I can't snap my friends, I can still text them on   
   other platforms and I honestly feel kind of free knowing that I don't   
   have to worry about doing my streaks anymore," Amy wrote.   
      
   Streaks - a Snapchat feature considered by some as highly addictive –   
   require two people to send a "snap" – a photo or video – to each other   
   every day in order to maintain their "streak" which can last for days,   
   months, even years.   
      
   By day six, the allure of Snapchat - which she first downloaded when she   
   was 12 and checked several times a day - was fading fast for Amy.   
      
   "I often used to call my friends on Snapchat after school, but because I   
   am no longer able to, I went for a run," she wrote.   
      
   Fast forward a month, and her habits are markedly different.   
      
   "Previously, it was part of my routine to open Snapchat," the Sydney   
   teen tells the BBC.   
      
   "Opening Snapchat would often lead to Instagram and then TikTok, which   
   sometimes resulted in me losing track of time after being swept up by   
   the algorithm ... I now reach for my phone less and mainly use it when I   
   genuinely need to do something."   
      
   https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c0mpmgn3jv2o   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)