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First of all, I’m no King Cnut sat on the beach with the tide of technological revolution washing over my head! What AI will bring has incredible potential as well as downsides, and schools will continue to educate on e-safety, digital literacy and critical thinking skills to help combat the latter.
I also appreciate that there will be arguments around restriction of freedoms, but my real point is this: when we know something is harmful – say alcohol or tobacco – we restrict access; and, where we know that the brain needs to develop more before something becomes available – say driving – we have restrictions.
And yet, in an era of increasing emphasis on real-life safety, we leave children open to digital dangers.
Firstly, I believe that parents need our support. I know how difficult it is when our children seek our permission for a new app. Not only are they remarkably persistent, they also know far more than we do. My greatest parenting mistake was allowing my daughter to access one particular forum. She sees some brilliant role models on there, but she also wastes so much time on digital drivel. If I’d have known how addictive it would be, with its automatically playing videos as you scroll, I would never have allowed it.
Secondly, I believe that children need our support. Jesy Nelson said it well in a recent interview with the BBC. It takes a really strong child to take a stance and say no when everyone else has access. It can often lead to ridicule or bullying. Let’s take the decision out of their hands.
Thirdly, we need a reminder of what it means to be human; we need to re-engage with real-world connections and challenges. Brad Stuhlberg has just released a book in which he describes us as being on “an algorithmic conveyor belt to no-where”, suggesting that we’re scrolling and numbing ourselves to death. Part of the reason that Australia enacted its restrictions was the Prime Minister’s desire to re-engage the country’s youth with sport, music and reading, and get them away from their phones.
As Jonathan Haidt explores in his brilliant book, The Anxious Generation, 2012 seems to have been a watershed year with the advent of social media coinciding with the first smart phones, ubiquitous WiFi and the less commented on but really important innovation of the reversible camera. That was all hard enough to navigate as an adult so no wonder there has been an impact on developing teenage brains.
I know that if I sit down to read a book with my phone nearby, I’ll read a couple of pages and then I’ll be back on my phone – and I’m 50! Young teens often struggle to focus and social media isn’t helping their stamina.
The major concerns of radicalisation, bullying, pornography and risky stunts are well-known and schools educate constantly to help children make better decisions.
I think, though, we’re seeing four other inter-related consequences of access to social media.
Firstly, an impact on focus and concentration. As Haidt argues, we’ve seen a re-wiring of the brain and we see the consequences every day in schools. Teenagers find it increasingly difficult to concentrate on large chunks of text in particular, and learning in general, as there’s no instant shot of dopamine on offer. Teachers have always been skilled at breaking topics down into manageable chunks, but will find it impossible to match the entertainment provided by continuous short videos.
Secondly, the impact on the quality of argument. Possibly because teenagers are reading less and possibly because of the maximum characters allowed on some social media platforms, young people seem less able to make consistent arguments or disagree agreeably. Debate on social media is black and white, right versus wrong, leading to an increasingly polarised and nuance-free society.
Thirdly, the impact on levels of anxiety. The decline in mental health over the last 15 years has been too sudden to be attributed to other factors like academic pressure or parenting style. The trend is the very reason that wellbeing is a central pillar of Westholme’s 2030 strategy and managing our digital lives will be a crucial development strand for us.
Finally, but probably a significant factor in my three previous points, is the impact on sleep. Our teens are sleep-deprived and the addictive nature of social media is one key explanation.
You probably need a proper neuroscientist to answer that question accurately, but I would argue that 13 is just too young for a digital age of consent.
Australia has gone for 16, Spain looks to be opting for the same, and Denmark, France and Norway are looking at 15.
My real point is that adolescence is such a sensitive developmental phase. We see those emotions, impulses and questionable judgements that make teenagers brilliant and unpredictable in equal measure.
During these years, social feedback has exaggerated emotional impact and online humiliation, exclusion or comparison are inescapable and permanent. Social media is then, by definition, potentially harmful to a child’s development.
I suspect I’m not making myself very popular with my view on restrictions, but being an educator or a parent isn’t a popularity contest.
I’ve spent a bit of time talking to our post-16 students at Westholme. They are over 16 now so any restrictions won’t apply to them, but they have experienced the ups and downs of social media over the last three or four years.
They also possess the wisdom of being that little bit older. Most could see that living a life in the present and worrying less about likes and looks would have been preferable.
I suppose that’s my point in a nutshell: let children be children – social media can wait.
Paul Taylor
Principal, Westholme School
February 2026
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