UK Considers New Smartphone Bans for Children
The UK parliament is considering clamping down on how young people use smartphones. A bill brought forward by a Labour member of parliament proposes both banning phones in schools and raising the age at which children can consent to social media companies using their data.
Calls for smartphone bans have been growing in the UK, driven by fears that the devices are driving a decline in kids’ mental health and ability to focus. Smartphone Free Childhood, a prominent pressure group inspired by Jonathan Haidt’s book The Anxious Generation, calls for parents to delay getting smartphones for their children until they are at least 13. Florida has already passed a law that bans under-14s from holding social media accounts, and Australia is considering similar restrictions.
But academics warn that smartphone and social media bans are unlikely to be a catch-all solution to the problems facing young people. Experts on the impact of digital technologies argue that the legislation could end up shutting children out from the potential benefits of smartphones, and that more pressure should be put on social media companies to design better digital worlds for children.
The latest proposed clampdown in the UK is thin on details, but the MP bringing the bill, Josh MacAllister, told the radio show Today that it would prevent social media companies making use of young peoples’ data until they are 16. “We can protect children from lots of the addictive bad design features that come from social media,” he said. The bill would also make a ban on phones in schools legally binding.
The bill was introduced to the House of Commons on October 16 and is set to be debated on March 7, 2025. MacAllister submitted it as a private members’ bill—a way for MPs who are not members of the government to propose legislation. Private members’ bills rarely become law, but they can be a way to raise publicity and influence government legislation. Labour health secretary Wes Streeting posted on X in support of the bill, writing that concerns about smartphone use and its impact on mental health make for “a really timely debate.”
The UK’s Department for Education already asks schools to prohibit access to phones throughout the school day, including during break and lunchtimes. According to research from the Policy Exchange think tank, 99 percent of secondary schools had some form of phone ban, although only 11 percent required children to either leave their phone at home or to lock it away at the start of the day. Other countries, such as Greece and France, have similar regulations.
