The latest episode of New York Times podcast Hard Fork examines whether Australia's social media ban for teenagers achieves its intended goal, questioning the effectiveness of government regulation in the digital age. Hosts Kevin Roose and Casey Newton investigate what happens when teens have legal restrictions on platforms but continue finding ways to access them anyway, raising fundamental questions about how governments should approach technology policy. The episode interrogates the gap between regulatory intent and real-world behavior. In a separate segment, the hosts explore questions of artificial intelligence consciousness—a topic increasingly central to debates within the AI industry about alignment, safety, and the nature of modern AI systems. The episode rounds out with "Tool Time," the show's recurring segment on technology tools shaping how people work and live.