Social media curfew for teens: is it pointless? – The Latest

青少年社交媒体宵禁:这是否毫无意义?——最新动态

Today in Focus

2026-07-16

11 分钟
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Sixteen- and 17-year-olds face an overnight social media curfew in an extension of the government’s social media ban for under-16s. Under the plan, aimed at reducing online harms, certain apps would be blocked by default from midnight to 6am. But the curfew will not be mandatory and teenagers can opt out, so will it achieve anything? Annie Kelly speaks to social affairs correspondent Jessica Murray – watch on YouTube. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/infocus
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  • This curfew is essentially like placing, you know, a bottle of alcohol in front of a teenager,

  • but just sort of keeping it out of arm's reach.

  • It is a lot to ask a young 16-year-old, 17-year-old to not just go into their settings and change it.

  • What teenager is going to be able to resist that?

  • Parents feel like they're fighting a losing battle.

  • There is some hesitation about upsetting tech companies too much by coming in too hard with restrictions.

  • From The Guardian today in Focus, this is The Latest with me, Annie Kelly.

  • So the government's already announced a ban for social media for under-16s.

  • They've now announced this new social media curfew for slightly older kids, 16 and 17-year-olds.

  • Jessica Murray, you're The Guardian's social affairs correspondent.

  • How is this going to work and how is it different to the measures they've already announced?

  • Yeah, so what this is, is a voluntary curfew on social media apps,

  • which will mean from the hours of midnight to 6am, certain apps will be blocked for 16 and 17 year olds.

  • It'll also include features like, for instance, the most kind of addictive elements of social media.