Should Under-16s Be Banned from Social Media – Or Are We Asking the Wrong Question?
Every so often, a headline lands that feels less like news and more like a collective intake of breath.
Recently, it’s been the idea of banning under-16s from social media. Australia has acted. Spain is talking seriously about it. The UK is 'consulting', which is political code for we know this is complicated but we need to be seen to do something.
If you’re a parent, carer, or anyone who has ever watched a teenager scroll at lightning speed while claiming they’re “not really doing anything”, this probably sparked a mix of relief, confusion, agreement, and dread. Relief because something might finally change. Dread because banning something rarely makes it disappear.
Twelve years ago, and in partnership with Jump! Mag, I made a lot of noise about the access that children had to social media. Parents reported that were already anxious about safety, peer pressure, screen time, and digital footprints that felt permanent before kids even understood what permanent meant however they were the ones that were allowing the access.
What’s changed since isn’t the worry. It’s the scale. Childhood doesn’t just brush up against the internet anymore. It forms part of it.
My research (and your input) isn’t here to defend social media, and it’s not here to shout “ban it all” either. It’s here to slow the conversation down long enough to ask better questions. What are we actually worried about? What do children get from being online that adults often dismiss? And what happens when policy tries to fix a human problem with a technical solution?
I’m also launching a short podcast series in the very near future, digging into the reality behind the headlines and using research, lived experience, and voices that don’t usually make it into government soundbites. If we’re going to talk about banning childhood from the internet, we should probably understand what childhood online actually looks like first.
This is where I need your help. I've created a survey which I would like you to fill in. It's completely anonymous but does need you to spend about 15 minutes completing it. I'd also like you to share it so it reaches a wide audience with the results being fair and measured, providing a real snapshot of children's online activity in 2026.
You can complete the survey below or by clicking on this link
https://forms.gle/vYdCP9z1m6qPKmnY9
Thank you in advance and stay tuned for the next update!
The accompanying short podcast series will explore childhood in the age of social media. Through lived experience, research, and real voices, it will look beyond headlines to ask what children actually need to grow up safely, confidently, and human in a digital world.