Ban social media for under-16s. Then what?

Limiting screen time won’t help if the spaces where young people hang out have disappeared

Hello, I’m a childless male aged 30-49. I don’t know any young people, but I do have views on whether they should be allowed to access social media before the age of 16. Frankly, I think we’d be better off if the government limited screen time for all ages, like in the 1970s and 1980s, when the BBC ended its television broadcast each night with a sign-off sequence including a weather forecast and the national anthem before fading to black.

In fact, I have rather fond memories of waking up before dawn on weekend mornings and watching what felt like hours of Open University lectures on BBC2 alongside my sisters, as we waited for the cartoons to roll. That’s if you were lucky. The alternative was that freeze frame of a young girl, sitting beside a noughts-and-crosses board, next to a clown doll and holding a crayon. I told you I was old.

BBC Test Card F

This week, the UK government launched a consultation on banning social media for under 16s, one of a broader series of measures intended to "protect young people's wellbeing." It follows in the wake of Australia, which became the first country to impose such a ban late last year.

While the measure enjoys cross-party support, and has been endorsed by the mother of murdered teenager Brianna Ghey, it’s worth noting that a number of children’s charities oppose the legislation. A joint letter signed by the likes of the NSPCC, Childnet and suicide prevention charity Molly Rose Foundation, warned that such a ban would be the “wrong solution”, calling instead for a “more targeted approach”.

If not online, where?

Clearly, I’m in no position to arbitrate between different children’s experts and charities. My query, as a low-information voter on this issue, is: in lieu of scrolling on their phones, what do we actually expect young people to do? This is not a rhetorical question.

Since 2010, youth services in the UK have been drastically scaled back, in large part due to severe cuts to local authority budgets, with councils effectively reduced being adult social care factories. Between 2010/11 and 2022/23, spending on youth facilities fell by 73%. In that period, more than 1,000 youth centres closed and more than 4,500 youth worker roles were lost.

According to the government’s National Youth Strategy, published last December, less than half of all young people agreed there were enough clubs and activities in their area, while nearly half said they spent the majority of their spare time in their bedroom. Little surprise perhaps that out of 27 European countries, the UK finished last in how happy 15-year-olds are with their life.