We must study how the social media ban impacts youth mental health

My eldest daughter has just turned 11. She's about to make the transition from primary to secondary school, with all that entails in terms of growing independence.  

Like most parents, we have agonised over when to give her a phone, what kind of phone to get her, and what parental controls to put in place. We want her to be safe when out and about, but also safe online. And yet it feels like an experiment, one where we won't know if the decisions we have made are the right ones for some time to come. 

It’s a very personal decision, but it’s taken place amid international political conversation. The UK has just announced a ban on social media for under-16s to be introduced in Spring 2027, with additional restrictions for 16 and 17 year olds being explored. Greece's prime minister has recently announced a social media ban for under-15s. This follows Australia's decision to ban under-16s, with similar proposals in France, Spain, Indonesia and Malaysia. 

Nearly half of all mental health problems emerge by the age of 18. In my role as Head of Evidence for Mental Health at Wellcome, we want to find new ways to intervene early in anxiety, depression and psychosis. The conversation on how social media and the digital world affect young people's mental health is vitally important. And yet there is so much that we still do not know. 

I’m a firm believer in evidence-based policymaking. But where public concern is so high, politicians will sometimes have to move ahead of a fully developed evidence base. Still, the reality is that we need stronger evidence on how social media – and its restriction - affects young people's mental health. 

What we have now is an incredible opportunity to build that evidence base and understand how changes in social media use affect young people.  

Wellcome will support UK-based research teams to deliver robust evaluations of the ban's impact on mental health. Researchers will measure young people’s baseline mental health before the changes are introduced, so they can evaluate their impact once in place. Young people will be included in designing the studies to ensure the research best addresses the issues they face.  

There are so many vital research questions. What is the most effective way to safeguard young people from online harms? Will restrictions improve mental health and, if so, what exactly is driving the improvement? Are young people abiding by the ban, or are they finding a way to circumvent restrictions? Can this new knowledge help us to design better interventions for youth mental health? Are there any risks to restricting social media?   

The ban will not have an equal impact on all young people. Factors like your hobbies, whether you live in a city or the countryside, your home life and whether you have access to spaces where you feel like you belong will all change your relationship with social media and your mental health.   

The UK Government has said it will introduce the social media ban by Spring 2027. We have a narrow window to collect baseline data from before this point, so we can best evaluate the impact of these policy changes on mental health while also examining other outcomes such as exposure to harmful content. We expect it to be some time before we fully understand the effects, so we are asking teams to follow up for at least a year. 

While our focus is on the UK in this instance, there is also an opportunity for international research. With young people tuning into the same platforms globally, there is enormous potential for collaboration, data sharing and cross-cultural comparisons. The field is likely to offer researchers plenty of scope for further investigation and collaboration. The EU's Horizon science programme recently launched a funding programme for researchers to develop interventions to prevent harms from digital technologies on young people. These interventions could counteract addictive design or reduce exposure to harmful content. The framing here is rightly wider than social media. As the use of AI technology – and AI chatbots specifically – advances at pace, there are important questions as to their impact on young people's mental health.

As the digital sphere continues to evolve, research is vital for informing future decision-making and identifying the most effective ways to safeguard youth mental health. The goal posts will be continuously shifting, but soon I, and millions of other parents, will be better equipped to support our young people entering the digital world.