Darlington pupils speak on under-16 social media ban

Teenagers from Haughton Academy, who recently took their concerns about social media to Parliament, said it helps them stay connected with friends and express themselves. But they agree it can also be harmful to young people who do not fully understand the risks.

Sir Keir Starmer announced today that under-16s will be banned from using platforms, including Snapchat, Tik Tok, Instagram and X, amid concerns that social media is unsafe and could cause lasting damage to young people’s mental health. He said: “Social media is making children unhappy.”

The ban is part of the Online Safety Act, a new set of laws that intends to protect children and adults online.

Reacting to the news, Year 10 students in Darlington, Katie Cameron and Ela Wardle said they were unsure if the ban will do more good than bad. 

Schoolchildren from Darlington visited Parliament with the town’s MP, Lola McEvoy, to discuss the challenges they face online (Image: LOLA MCEVOY)

Ela, 15, said: “There are two sides to it because I use it to communicate with a lot of my friends and to express myself. 

“I’ve made friends with people at this school that I’ve never spoken to, but they look at my Tik Toks.

“But then I also feel like the ban is a good thing because it’s very damaging to young people and some people don’t know the danger of social media.”

In May, Katie, Ela and their peers visited Parliament with Darlington MP, Lola McEvoy, to meet with the Secretary of State for Digital, Science, Information and Technology, Liz Kendall, to discuss the challenges they face online.

Ela said: “It was really good, I want to study politics for women’s rights, so it’s been really inspirational.”

Darlington MP Lola McEvoy at an online safety event at Longfield School (Image: SARAH CALDECOTT)

Ms McEvoy, who created the Darlington Online Safety Forum, a local initiative for young people to come together and discuss the impact of social media, said: “They were so brilliant, grown-up and confident. They were able to articulate on behalf of their peers some of the challenges that they’re facing and I was really shocked. 

“I found it to be much worse than I’d imagined because what we as adults see online is not the same as what children are seeing.”

Started by Ms McEvoy in late 2024, the forum was established to use the voices of schoolchildren in Darlington to shape government policy on social media.

Ela added: “Random people message you, because they can – it’s easy to do. On TikTok, you’ve got a message part where you can accept it, but you can still see the messages and it’s really weird.”

Katie said: “There are some restrictions. I’ve seen there’s something on Tik Tok where you can only view certain pages if you’re over the age of 18, but people get round it.”

Ms McEvoy said she fully supported the Government’s stance, adding: “I’m absolutely delighted that the government is taking action to protect children online. 

“Before I was elected, across the town, parents and grandparents were raising this as an issue. They were worried about their children’s future and the undue influence of these massive companies and the content that children were seeing.”

Katie and Ela’s principal at Haughton Academy, Jane Darbyshire, said: “Safeguarding the children is the most important thing, and from a school’s perspective, it will still be really important for us to educate our young people to know how to keep themselves safe online.”

Ms Darbyshire has introduced a ban on phones during school hours. 

She said: “With technology, there are a lot of challenges and one of the challenges young people have had is not being able to go on their phone. To be fair to them, the vast majority of students have been on board with it.”

The government plans to use the same model for the social media ban as Australia, which would capture platforms whose purpose is to enable social interaction, allows users to post material and uses algorithms.

Apps such as WhatsApp and Signal will not be included in the ban.