Blanket ban on teenage smartphone use 'could be detrimental' - expert

A leading academic tasked by the government with reviewing the effects of smartphones on teenagers has suggested blanket bans are "unrealistic and potentially detrimental".

- Jessica Elgot

The University of Cambridge's Dr Amy Orben will lead the work on children and smartphone use that has been commissioned by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) along with other academics from British universities.

Ministers have been resistant to implementing new legal restrictions on social media and smartphones for children that goes further than the Online Safety Act, currently coming into force. Some MPs have been pushing for restrictions that go beyond harmful content - including on access to social media for under-16s, full bans on smartphones in schools or restrictions on social media algorithms, which are currently able to train addictive content on teenagers.

But in a paper Orben published with four co-authors in the British Medical Journal this week, she said bans and restrictions were unlikely to be effective - though they did advocate that children and teens should have phone-free spaces.