Should social media be banned for under-16s? Hundreds of residents in Croydon are telling me it needs to be.
Parents are rightly worried. Kids today are spending an enormous amount of time online, way more than any generation that came before them. We don’t yet have a clear picture of what the long-term impacts will be – but we are seeing a marked difference in kids today compared to 20 years ago.
Mental health issues, particularly anxiety and depression, have risen significantly in children and young people globally.
Children are now spending 50% less time on unstructured outdoor play than they did in the 1970s. And only 1 in 5 children and young people report reading daily – the lowest figure since the National Literature Trust’s records began in 2005. More needs to be done.
Earlier this month, I visited a school in my constituency for a session on internet safety. I was struck by a couple of things, which brought sharply into focus the urgency of this debate.
The school has a no-phones policy, which I’m completely behind. Phones have no place in schools – they should be a place to focus on learning, away from the distractions of the outside world.
This view wasn’t shared by the students I spoke to. One young woman told me how anxious she feels when she’s not able to check her phone, arguing that the policy is having a negative, rather than positive, impact on her mental health.
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While she expertly presented her case, the conversation highlighted to me how the need to constantly check social media channels, WhatsApp messages and TikTok trends is preventing our young people from living in the moment, free from thousands of online personas scrutinising your every move and pressuring you to look, think and act a certain way.
I have three teenagers of my own who are not keen on the idea of a social media ban for the under-16s. I don’t want to look back on my own childhood through rose-tinted glasses, but when I compare, I wish they’d been able to grow up without those online demands.
It’s easy to just give up, say we can’t fight the inevitable. But we would be doing our children a disservice. More action can, and should, be taken.
Through the Online Safety Act, the Government has already taken concrete steps to make the digital world more secure for children. Now it’s time to take things further.
That’s why I’m delighted by latest plans to toughen up guidance, so schools are phone-free by default – with Ofsted carrying out checks during every inspection. We’re also consulting on phone curfews and a potential ban for children under a certain age. No decisions have been made yet; the Government will be working with experts, kids, parents and teachers to shape future policy.
We all want a safer digital world for our children – one where they can spend less time scrolling, and more time being kids.
- Sarah Jones is MP for Croydon West and Minister of State for Policing and Crime.
