Hundreds of thousands of pre-school children are “being fed content and algorithms designed to hook adults”, a former education minister has warned.
Lord John Nash described findings as “deeply alarming” after analysis from the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) suggested more than 800,000 UK children aged between three and five are already engaging with social media.
The analysis applied the latest population data to previous research by Ofcom, which found that almost four in 10 parents of a three- to five-year-old reported that their child uses at least one social media app or site.
With roughly 2.2 million children in this age group as of 2024, the CSJ said this suggests there could be 814,000 users of social media aged between three and five.
Under-fives using social media
Lord Nash said: “This research is deeply alarming. With hundreds of thousands of under-fives now on these platforms, children who haven’t yet learned to read, being fed content and algorithms designed to hook adults, should concern us all.
“We need a major public health campaign so parents better understand the damage being done, and legislation that raises the age limit for social media to 16 whilst holding tech giants to account when they fail to keep children off their platforms.”
The peer has previously pressed for action to prevent under-16s accessing social media, as part of the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill.
His call comes as a world-first law is due to come into effect in Australia. From 10 December, social media platforms will have to take reasonable steps to prevent under-16s in Australia from having a social media account.
Call for school phone ban
Campaigners in the UK have called for stronger policies to stop phone use in schools, but the government maintains that schools can already ban them, and that it supports headteachers to take the steps needed to prevent disruption.
The CSJ is advocating that smartphones be banned in all schools “to break the 24-hour cycle of phone use”, and said a public health campaign is needed “to highlight the harms of social media”.
Last week, health secretary Wes Streeting said he worries “that we abandon young people to the Wild West of the online world”.
He told of his concerns “about the mind-numbing impact of doomscrolling on social media on young minds and our neurodevelopment”.
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