New regulation would ban smartphones in colleges underneath ‘doom scrolling’ crackdown

A new law to crack down on harmful “doomscrolling” by kids will be brought to Parliament this week.

Labour MP Josh MacAlister wants to protect children from the harms of excessive screen time by making smartphones less addictive. The average 12-year-old spends 21 hours a week on their smartphone – and one in four (25%) young people use smartphones in a way that is consistent with a behavioural addiction, according to a Commons report earlier this year.

Mr MacAlister will table the backbench bill on Wednesday to make smartphone bans in school a legal requirement, rather than simply guidance for headteachers. The Safer Phones Bill will also raise the age of internet adulthood from 13 to 16, making it harder for social media giants to access kids’ data which is then used to feed them addictive content.

It would beef up Ofcom’s powers, allowing the watchdog to enforce a code of conduct to prevent children being exposed to apps that are addictive by design. The bill will also commit the Government to review further regulation of the design, supply, marketing and use of mobile phones by children under 16. It comes as internal documents revealed in a lawsuit suggested TikTok can hook new users in just 35 minutes.

Ms MacAlister, a former teacher, said: “The evidence is mounting that children doom scrolling for hours a day is causing widespread harm. We need the equivalent of the ‘seatbelt’ legislation for social media use for children. Adults find it hard enough to manage screen time, so why are we expecting children to manage this addictive content without some shared rules?”

He said parents were being left in an impossible bind over whether to cut off social media access completely or expose their children to potential harm.

The Whitehaven and Workington MP came fifth in the ballot for private members bills, which means his proposed law is guaranteed to be debated by MPs. Backbench bills of this kind rarely become law without government support.

However Science and Tech Secretary Peter Kyle indicated that he was “open minded” about the options for keeping children safe online. “Everything is on the table when it comes to keeping young people safe and I’m looking very carefully at the powers that we might need to do so in the future,” he told LBC.

Asked whether a ban on some social media products was not off the table, he said: “When it comes to the safety of people who live and work and use the online world here in this country, nothing will be off the table. I want to work constructively with these companies, that’s what I am doing.”

The Australian government is looking at a ban on social media for younger teens, while France is testing a mobile phone ban in schools.

Former Tory Education Secretary Kit Malthouse, who is one of the co-sponsors of the Bill, said: “The growing evidence of the impact of smartphones on kids is deeply alarming. So being clear about our expectations from providers and regulators, and their duties towards our children has to be a step in the right direction.”

Joe Ryrie, co-founder of the Smartphone Free Childhood campaign, said: “Parents everywhere are crying out for Government to go further and faster in regulating Big Tech, so that they alone are not responsible for guarding childhood from the addictive and predatory algorithms for which they are no match.

“We need to start thinking about children’s digital safety in a more imaginative way, going beyond just the harms, so that we can build upon the Online Safety Act and start developing a new regulatory approach that has young people’s wellbeing and healthy development at its heart.”

Anne Longfield, Executive Chair of the Centre for Young Lives and former Children’s Commissioner for England, said: “For too long this has been the elephant in the room – we know many children, increasingly from a young age, are spending too much time doom scrolling on social media apps and how long periods of addictive smartphone screen time can be detrimental.

“Parliament now has an opportunity to reset children’s relationships with smartphones, and marginalise their impact and influence on developing young minds.”

Pepe Di’lasio, General Secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), said: “Smartphones and the instant access they provide to harmful content is nothing short of a public health emergency for children and young people.” He said teachers were left to pick up the pieces after pupils are exposed to bullying pornography and hateful views. He added: “It is not enough to rely solely on parents and schools teaching children about the dangers of smartphones.”

Ian Russell, whose 14-year-old daughter Molly took her own life after seeing harmful material online, said the plan shows there is clear acceptance that protecting kids can no longer be “treated as a optional extra”. But Mr Russell, Chair of Trustees at the Molly Rose Foundation, said: “The most effective way to deliver change is through a strengthened Online Safety Act with a clear and unambiguous duty on Ofcom to deliver annual reductions in harm.

“Further legislation must address the lack of product safety and irresponsible design that costs too many young lives, and it must be singularly focused on where the evidence says we can make the biggest impact. Measures that divert resources from realising the Act’s full potential may prove counterproductive and slow progress towards a safer digital future.”

MPs are expected to debate the bill early next year.