Teenagers face two-hour cap on social media apps

Telegraph

5 hours ago

A two-hour cap on social media apps for teenagers is being considered by the Government.
Peter Kyle, the Technology Secretary, suggested he was considering new limits on scroll time for young people in an attempt to tackle 'addictive' behaviour. It comes as ministers examine a package of potential new online safety measures.
Asked whether he was looking at an 'app cap', Mr Kyle told the BBC's Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg show: 'I'm looking at things that prevent healthy activity, I'm looking at some of the addictive nature of some of the apps and smartphones.
'I'm trying to think how we can break some of the addictive behaviour and incentivise more of the healthy developmental… and also the good communicative side of online life.'
The potential reforms could include teenagers being blocked from accessing social media sites after 10pm and during the school day, according to the Daily Mirror.
Asked what the Government would hope to achieve by such measures, Mr Kyle said: 'I know this is something you and your viewers care deeply about.
'I've not been able to talk publicly about what the Labour approach is because we have the legacy legislation that has to go through first.
'This year we've had illegal content that needs to be taken down, but in July, age-appropriate material must be supplied by platforms, otherwise there'll be criminal sanctions against them.
'And in this time, I've been looking very carefully about what we do next.'
'Safety for a purpose'
Mr Kyle added: 'I want to nail down harder on safety, but I want to use that safety for a purpose, which is to understand what is a healthy online life for children in the same way we understand what health means in the physical, offline world, and I'm trying to incentivise the behaviours and stop the barriers towards moving towards that healthy life.'
A cap on the amount of time teenagers can spend scrolling online would build on proposals for a social media curfew previously floated by Mr Kyle.
Earlier this year, the Technology Secretary told The Telegraph that he was examining the online equivalent of a television watershed for children following concerns that the 'addictive nature' of social media was disrupting their sleep, their families and other aspects of their lives.
He said he was 'watching very carefully' the impact of TikTok's introduction of 10pm curfews for under 16s and tools for parents to switch off access at set times, and encouraged other companies to consider similar features.
'Stronger laws needed'
However, the father of Molly Russell, the 14-year-old girl who took her own life after viewing harmful content on social media, warned that 'sticking plasters' would not be enough to fix the problem.
Ian Russell, who is chairman of the Molly Rose Foundation set up in his daughter's memory, urged the Prime Minister to go further and faster.
He told Kuenssberg's show: 'Every day the Government has delayed bringing in tougher online safety laws we've seen more young lives lost and damaged because of weak regulation and inaction by big tech.
'Parents up and down the country would be delighted to see the Prime Minister act decisively to quell the tsunami of harm children face online, but sticking plasters will not do the job.