The UK government’s proposed ban on social media for under-16s has widespread support – but will it solve the problems we perceive social media creates? For the first time, a large-scale experiment intends to find the answers.
At social gatherings, Professor Amy Orben tries to avoid revealing what she does for a living, because often it’s all parents want to talk about – and no wonder. For a decade she has investigated how digital technology affects children and adolescents, and the evidence is murky. Trying to find clear answers is a long-term, complex endeavour, whereas every parent wants to know what to do right now. New tech emerges far faster than scientists can study it.
“Many parents feel they are making high-stakes decisions about their children’s development with very little clear guidance,” she recently wrote on child development and education site Bold.
When the largest trial of its kind kicks off this September among up to 5,000 Bradford teenagers, Orben and other scientists...