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Why Social Media Bans Backfire (And What We Should Do Instead)
Around the world, the movement to ban kids from social media is gaining momentum. Australia led the way, voting to ban children under 16 from platforms like Facebook and Instagram in late 2024. Other countries, such as Denmark, Spain, Indonesia, and Austria, soon followed suit.
Here in the U.S. the First Amendment complicates efforts to kick kids off social media, but interest restricting access is building here too. Last month’s $17.1 billion settlement between several states and Meta for building harmful, addictive platforms brought attention to the issue. Bills are pending in congress. And nearly six in ten adults support banning those under 16 from social media, according to Pew research.
These efforts sound sensible and respond to a very real sense that endless scrolling is doing bad things to young minds. But according to one researcher who has been studying teens and technology for three decades, there is one very big problem with well-intentioned social media bans: They just don’t work.
Social media bans for teens are already failing
Many parents (myself very much included) would love the government to ride to our rescue and put a stop to endless screen-time battles. But in The MIT Press Reader, Mizuko Ito recently threw…
