We Need to Take Our Children Off Harmful Social Media Apps

You may know that before I was elected to Parliament, I spent my career working as a French and Italian teacher at a comprehensive school in Llanelli. It has been several years since I left the classroom, but even then I could see the impact that social media was having on our young people. I saw pupils become less confident, their self-esteem suffer, and the way they interacted with each other become more pointed and increasingly online rather than in person. That was over a decade ago, and the situation has only become more serious since.

​Our smartphones and social media apps are a gateway to an increasingly hostile and polarised world, where people conduct themselves in ways they would never consider acceptable in public. We would never tolerate a shop, a cinema or a library allowing children access to harmful material. Yet for too long, social media companies have been able to operate without that same level of responsibility, while their platforms expose children to damaging content.

That is why I welcome the UK Government’s decision to ban social media use for children under the age of 16. Under these new plans, platforms will be required to prevent under-16s from creating accounts and to introduce much stronger age verification systems. This is about making sure that responsibility sits where it should, with the companies providing these services, rather than leaving families and schools to deal with the consequences.

But this will have to come alongside a wider cultural shift. All of us need to take a step back and think about our relationship with our phones and the impact they have on our lives.

There is so much more to growing up than what happens on a screen. Spending time outdoors, building friendships face to face, and taking part in sport all play an important role in a young person’s development and wellbeing, and we need to place a stronger emphasis on those experiences.
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There is still more to do, especially when it comes to improving digital literacy and supporting families, but this is an important step in the right direction. It will help ensure that young people are able to grow up safely, confidently, and with the freedom to enjoy the world beyond their phones.