Children and Young People: Social Media

There is a lack of conclusive evidence on the impact of social media use on outcomes for children and young people. The government has launched a three‑week call for evidence, primarily aimed at experts, to gather research on how screen use affects children aged 5–16. This will inform new, practical, evidence‑based guidance for parents to be published in Autumn 2026.

Some studies suggest that screen use may displace healthy activities such as sleep, physical activity and in-person socialisation, as well as reducing healthy attention habits through multi-tasking and attention disruption, all of which can negatively impact wellbeing. There is also evidence to suggest that digital devices and social media can directly disrupt sleep through blue light exposure and notifications which wake people up. The department has commissioned a systematic review of evidence that enables causal inference rather than just correlation to better understand how screentime, including social media, impacts children and young people including looking at impacts on wellbeing and educational outcomes.

Our national Digital Wellbeing consultation received 116,000 responses, one of the largest ever, with 90% of parents calling for an outright ban on social media for children.

For these reasons, the government is taking power away from tech companies and putting it back in parents’ hands by banning social media companies from offering their services to children under 16.

We are supporting these changes with wider work to increase children's access to educational and positive experiences, both online and offline.