The Evidence for Raising the Age Limit for Social Media

This evidence paper brings together research, statistics, expert opinion, and public polling highlighting the growing impact of social media on children and young people.

The report explores links between excessive social media use and rising levels of mental health issues, sleep deprivation, eating disorders, online exploitation, violence, educational decline, and child safety concerns.

Read the full report below or download the PDF version.

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Key Statistics

Mental Health Crisis

Children’s contact with mental health services has risen by 477% since 2016.

Exposure to Violence

70% of teenagers have seen real-world acts of violence on social media in the past year.

Harmful Content

Only 6% of children who saw violent content online actually searched for it — most had it pushed to them by platform algorithms.t.

Public Support

75% of adults support raising the minimum social media age to 16.

" We have reached an inflection point and action must be taken to avoid what is nothing short of a societal catastrophe caused by children’s access to social media."

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