A MART脥NEZ, HOST:
Britain is the latest country to announce a social media ban for children under 16. Prime Minister Keir Starmer says it'll take effect early next year.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
PRIME MINISTER KEIR STARMER: Social media is making children unhappy. It's making it easier for bullies to harass and abuse them, and it could even be harming their mental health.
MART脥NEZ: University of Cambridge professor Amy Orben studies how social media affects children. She sat on an expert panel that advised the U.K. government on children's online well-being. So, Professor Orben, from your work as an adviser while this policy was being developed, do you believe the prime minister's description of social media risks? Do you think it's accurate? Because he sounds pretty clear on how he feels about it.
AMY ORBEN: So I'm naturally talking for myself as an independent expert rather than Keir Starmer or the rest of the government, but I think he sets out a range of risks that are definitely real. We have seen clear evidence of individuals very severely harmed by social media, even deaths of young people having been exposed to certain forms of content that coroners have recognized here in the U.K. And a lot of campaigners at the time were saying, well, if there would be a toy that has killed three children, we would recall that toy. And so in one way, shape or form, this action is very much warranted. The campaigners on the other side would say, well, you would recall that one toy, but you wouldn't recall all toys...
MART脥NEZ: Yeah.
ORBEN: ...For all children. And the evidence on the whole-population level, when you average things out across all types of use and all types of users - it's a bit less clear. I think we do now have evolving evidence that, you know, time spent on social media probably predicts a small decline in well-being or mental health, but it is a small effect size. However, what we also know is that social media has a really diverse impact on different kids. But here, the prime minister really took those severe harms and put them front and center for his...
MART脥NEZ: Yeah.
ORBEN: ...Policy.
MART脥NEZ: Yeah. And it's interesting that you mention that you wouldn't ban all toys, right? Because when a government bans social media for children, is it effectively deciding that there is no version at all of these platforms that are safe for children?
ORBEN: I think this is what makes this announcement bittersweet for me, right? I think it was really pressured for across the United Kingdom, especially from parental groups, less so by kids and young people. But I think it is a recognition by government that previous policies to make social media safe haven't really worked as planned. We had an Online Safety Act. We really worked on promoting, you know, less harmful content or removing harmful content. And there's been a lot of advocacy that we can make technology safer by design.
And banning something for those most vulnerable is a good step if that thing cannot be made safe. So I do think it is a recognition that at the moment, we cannot adequately address those design changes we need to do. But actually, this isn't just impacting under-16s. This is also impacting over-16s and adults. So I think this can only be a sticking plaster for changes to the designs and the use of technologies more broadly because we do know that there are aspects of that that are still unsafe for everyone.
MART脥NEZ: One last thing quickly - just a few seconds here. What do you tell parents whose children are actually using social media in effective ways, in positive ways, about this?
ORBEN: Well, I think that a lot of children and parents will be concerned if there are things that they do online that matter to them. A lot of children and young people in the consultation said they use it for education and support.
MART脥NEZ: Yeah.
ORBEN: I think the thing there is to try to find other means to do that.
MART脥NEZ: OK. Amy Orben at the University of Cambridge, thank you very much.
ORBEN: Thank you very much.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR鈥檚 programming is the audio record.
