Two MPs from both sides of the political spectrum say they are open to looking into whether New Zealand should increase its social media age limit from 13 to 16 years old.
There are growing calls in Australia to raise the legal age, with one state proposing a law to do so.
Australian radio host Michael 'Wippa' Wipfli started a campaign which aims to raise the minimum age to join social media from 13 to 16 years old.
Joining AM on Monday, Wipfli said the psychological damage from social media is devastating.
"Even if we change the law and we don't have the media platforms play ball, the great thing is we would be empowering the parents again," he told co-host Melissa Chan-Green.
"If we can at least give the parents the power to say: You know what guys, stealing a car is illegal, robbing a bank is illegal and being on social media is illegal too, prior to the age of 16."
Australia pledged $6.5 million in its latest Budget to trial age verification technology to crack down on child safety online. Experts suggest it could lead to a country-wide ban.
Wipfli said the problem with the trial is the social media companies aren't involved.
"Unless the social media platforms are on board with that tech, I can't really see the purpose of it," Wipfli said.
"If we jumped straight to the gun and said 'hey guys, we're drawing a line in the sand, [the age limit is] now 16' then I think we would get the attention of social media platforms and they would adjust accordingly."
It comes as South Australia recently proposed a law to raise the legal age children can join social media to 16. Anyone younger would need parental consent. New South Wales Premier Chris Minns suggested his state will look also look into it.
Appearing on AM earlier in the show, Labour MP Priyanca Radhakrishnan and ACT Party leader David Seymour both were open to looking into the idea.
Radhakrishnan, the former youth minister, said it's worth looking into the age limits further.
"Given what we know, the research that we have on brain development in young people, the online harms that we know do exist as well, I think it's worth looking into," she said.
Radhakrishnan said she would want to see more research into monitoring and how to hold companies to account.
"We know that access to social media also increases access to child exploitation and other harms. So, what we won't be doing is cutting the very roles in government agencies that are working to address child exploitation and harm, as we're seeing now," she said.
When asked whether we should prevent young people from accessing platforms allowing child exploitation to happen, Seymour said he thinks this is a starting point.
He cited the Annual New Zealand Health Survey which found one in five young people experienced high levels of psychological distress.
"I suspect that the rise in social media and smartphones everywhere has really changed young people's brains, it's increased the pressure on them. That's something that as a society we are now working through," Seymour said.
The Coalition Government has banned the use of cell phone in schools which Seymour said gives young people time without a "digital leash".
He said he is open to the debate on whether platforms should have an age limit but noted getting into the digital world was not all bad.
"There are some questions that you actually have to work through a bit carefully. There's something going really wrong with young people and mental health and we can see the evidence of that… But also, you've got to be a bit careful of throwing the baby out with the bath water."
