GoKawiilA growing number of countries around the world are enacting bans or restrictions on the use of social media apps by children.
The UK has just announced its own plan to join the list, with a comprehensive ban set to be introduced early next year …
Social media bans for kids
Academic studies have long demonstrated clear links between social media usage and declining teenage mental health. Back in 2024, a meta analysis concluded that there was no longer any doubt about a causal link.
A lot of new work has been published since 2019, and there has been a recent and surprising convergence among the leading opponents in the debate […] There is now a great deal of evidence that social media is a substantial cause, not just a tiny correlate, of depression and anxiety, and therefore of behaviors related to depression and anxiety, including self-harm and suicide.
Australia was the first country in the world to ban under-16s from using social media, but far from the last. Since then, countries which have either passed legislation or have agreed in principle to introduce bans is a lengthy list:
Austria
Denmark
France
Germany
... continue reading