Should childhood be offline until sixteen

There is a familiar family scene that did not exist twenty years ago. A parent tells a teenager to put the phone down while checking their own phone. The teenager explains that everybody is on the app. The parent says everybody is not an argument. Both know that, in this case, everybody probably is.

Britain has decided to intervene. From spring 2027, social media companies will be expected to prevent children under 16 from holding accounts on specified platforms. Messaging services such as WhatsApp and Signal are expected to remain available, while high risk features including live streaming and contact from strangers will face wider restrictions.