This morning’s announcement by Sir Keir Starmer of a social media ban for under-16s will no doubt be welcomed by many parents. Certainly, it is difficult to deny that social media presents significant dangers for young people. Anxiety, depression, bullying, exposure to sexual content, addictive behaviours, and the endless comparison culture fostered by platforms such as Instagram, TikTok, and Snapchat have all been widely documented.
So, on one level, the Prime Minister’s proposal is well-intentioned. We should never mock sincere attempts to protect children. Yet I wonder whether social media is actually the main problem. The deeper issue is screen time.
A child can be banned from every social media platform in existence and still spend six hours a day staring at a screen. They can lose themselves in videos, endless gaming, streaming services, and a thousand other digital distractions. The smartphone has become the defining object of modern childhood. It is often present from the moment a child wakes until the moment they go to sleep.
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