Starmer considering a social media ban for under-16s

As both a mother and a clinical psychologist, I would genuinely welcome a ban on social media for under-16s. I see every day how harmful online comparison, exposure and pressure can be for developing minds.
My eldest is 12½ and I’ve firmly said no to TikTok, even though many of his friends have had it since Year 7. That hasn’t been easy, but boundaries exist to keep children safe, not to make parenting popular.
Children’s brains are not designed to cope with constant algorithms, validation loops and adult content. This is one area where society needs to step in and take the pressure off families.

Four features have been typical for human development for millions of years:
1. Embodiment. We use our bodies to communicate and are aware of the bodies of others and respond to them both consciously and subconsciously
2. Synchronicity. Being aware of things happening at the same time leading to an awareness of things like turn taking
3. Interaction: Communications involve either 1-2-1 or one to several interactions
4. Community: Interactions take place within communities where people are strongly invested in relationships

The creation of social media platforms has warped those four features:
- it's disembodied meaning no ‘body’ is needed
- it's asynchronous meaning not happening at the same time.
- multiple conversations can be at the same time.
- communities are short-lived and relationships are disposable

As an anxiety therapist I have seen teenage anxiety raise exponentially so I applaud Australia for taking this stance and hope we follow.

The bright kids will just use a VPN to bypass these rules. Let's hope it's not a free VPN that sells their data to the highest bidder like one reported on last week. When I was at school, bullying ended when you got home. Now it's 24/7. Kids need protecting from that relentless pressure. If social media had been through the same rigorous testing we'd demand for any mind-altering drug, perhaps it would never have got to market. We're all suffering from short attention spans and comparisonitis. At least some of us remember what life was like before social media. The ban might be well-intentioned, but without proper enforcement mechanisms and digital literacy education, we're just teaching kids to hide their online lives better, potentially in far more dangerous corners of the internet.

This proposal feels less like a safety measure and more like the prologue to a bad dystopian novel. To ban under-16s, you effectively have to verify everyone else. That means biometric scans and government ID uploads for every adult in the UK—creating a 'permission slip' society where online anonymity is dead.

We are building a massive, centralised target for hackers, a digital 'honeypot' of personal data that is guaranteed to leak. If you think social media companies handle data poorly now, wait until they’re holding the keys to your identity.

Technically, it’s pure fantasy. Kids are the original hackers. They’ll use VPNs and proxies to bypass this 'firewall' in seconds. Worse, by blocking mainstream platforms, we push them into the unmoderated dark corners of the web where absolutely no one is watching. We need digital resilience, not a technological police state that punishes the innocent to vaguely protect the young.

As evidence of social media’s harm to the developing brain mounts, the UK is finally beginning to take responsibility for protecting its youth.

Parents and schools are outmatched by a multibillion-pound persuasive design industry built to capture attention at any cost. Platforms thrive on fear, rage and unworthiness, exploiting brains wired to detect threat. The more engagement, the better.

The consequences are clear: rising self-harm, eating disorders, anxiety, early pornography exposure and radicalisation. Vulnerable young people are drawn deeper into phones and impulsive spending on gambling, pornography and fast fashion.

Big tech will one day be viewed like big tobacco. Following Australia’s lead would offer families relief, but only if paired with real-world freedom, digital literacy, adult role modelling, and age restrictions that companies are forced to enforce.