The first thought I had when the Albanese government's under 16s social media ban was announced was: "Can I opt in?"

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I joked with colleagues about getting my name added to the legislation. As much as I love social media, I fear that it has destroyed my focus, my concentration, and my free time.

France is reportedly considering a similar ban to protect its children from the harms of social media, but what about us adults? Can we make the social media ban opt-in for adults?

As adults, I recognise we are all completely capable of putting the phone down and picking up a book instead. Logging off is always an option. Shutting down your account is always an option. But the truth is, the social cost of opting out of social media is high because everyone else is on it. Then there are those of us who really need to be on social media for professional reasons, making it difficult to opt out altogether, even if you want to.

I will confess to being a total and complete luddite about the social media ban. I think it's a great idea. I think smartphones should be banned from all schools. Perhaps because I'm an elderly Millennial who remembers life before social media and smartphones (video calls still feel like something from Star Trek to me).

Screens dominate our lives now in a way that wasn't possible when I was growing up. Now, we carry the internet around in our pockets. When I was growing up, parents were worried about kids watching too much telly. Now people sit down with two or three screens - telly, laptop and smartphone.

I don't know about you, but I feel like my smartphone and my social media have completely destroyed my concentration. I particularly notice it at this time of year because one of the joys of summer holidays is receiving books for Christmas and then spending whole days reading them for hours on end at the beach, or by the pool.

But the past few........

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