In the United Kingdom a new phase is opening in the regulation of the digital world. The government led by Keir Starmer has in fact started a national experimentation to understand if it really is necessary prohibit children under 16 from accessing social media.
The initiative comes at a time when addiction to smartphones and digital platforms is increasingly at the center of the concerns of families, schools and institutions. However, before introducing a definitive law, London chose a different path: listen to citizens, teenagers and parentscollecting opinions and suggestions on how to make the internet a safer environment for young people.
Real tests on hundreds of teenagers
The government’s plan is not limited to simple public consultation. One will start in the next few weeks concrete experimentation that will involve 150 children between 13 and 15 years old. The teenagers will be divided into groups and subjected to different conditions of smartphone use. Some will face a total ban on social mediaothers will be able to use them just for an hour a daywhile a third group will be subject to a digital night curfew.
During the test various aspects of the participants’ daily lives will be monitored: sleep quality, emotional state, physical activity levels and concentration. The goal is to achieve concrete scientific data to understand which measures really work and which ones risk being ineffective or even counterproductive.
A model inspired by Australia
The idea of ​​drastically limiting social media among minors does not arise in a vacuum. Australia led the way, becoming the first country in the world to introduce a ban on the use of social media under 16 years of age. The British proposal could concern platforms that are very popular among younger people such as Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat and YouTube. Meanwhile the European Union is also trying to limit some mechanisms of digital platformsespecially those designed to encourage endless scrolling and compulsive content consumption.
Algorithms, chatbots and age checks
Among the measures being studied in the United Kingdom there is not only a ban. The government is also considering less radical interventionsbut potentially very effective. One of the proposals concerns the obligation for platforms to turn off features like autoplay or infinite scrollingtwo tools that keep users connected for hours without a break. At the same time we discuss strengthen age verification systemsoften bypassed with extreme ease.
Another issue concerns the use of artificial intelligence-based chatbotsincreasingly widespread among adolescents. Some experts worry that minors may develop an excessive relationship of trust with software designed to simulate human conversations.
The consultation will end on 26 May
The public consultation will remain open until May 26, 2026 and will serve to collect opinions and data useful for building future legislation. For the British government the challenge is find a balance between child protection and digital freedom. Technology, in fact, can be an extraordinary tool for learning, creating and communicating, but when it becomes a constant presence it risks turning into a true invisible addiction. And precisely from this balance one of the could be born most important digital reforms in recent years.
