The United Kingdom (UK) government is considering new measures to control social media use among 16 and 17-year-olds, especially at night.
According to the proposal, popular social media apps will be automatically blocked between 12 midnight and 6 am every day. The move is aimed at ensuring that teenagers get enough sleep, focus on their studies and spend quality time with family and friends.
The move follows a complete ban on social media use for teenagers under 16 announced last month. In fact, the UK government stressed that the new rules are important to help teenagers build a healthy and balanced lifestyle and support their development towards a better quality adult life.
Meanwhile, the government also announced plans to introduce default settings that will deactivate features considered to be addictive, including auto-play and infinite scroll functions, for accounts of teenagers in this age group. However, affected teens can still opt out of these restrictions by changing their account settings, and the enforcement mechanism for these changes has not yet been fully detailed.
The proposal has also sparked controversy from various quarters who argue that it could weaken the effectiveness of the restrictions. Big tech companies like YouTube have warned that a blanket ban could potentially push teens to other, less secure platforms.
