Children are limiting phone use - 11/July/2025

The Guardian - 11/07/2025

 Children are limiting phone use to protect their mental health

The Guardian,

United Kingdom

Jul 11, 2025

5

Rachel Hall

Children are increasingly taking breaks from their smartphones to better manage their mental health, personal safety and attention spans, research suggests.

Experts say youngsters are reacting to growing concerns that too much time online can be harmful by taking control of their social media and phone use rather than relying on parents to enforce limits.

The number of 12- to 15-year-olds who take breaks from digital devices has risen to 40% – up by almost a fifth on 2022, according to the audience research company GWI, drawing on a survey of 20,000 young people and their parents in 18 countries.

Prof Sonia Livingstone, the director of the LSE’s digital futures for children centre, said the findings would be echoed in a forthcoming research report that found younger people were trying various options to manage how their online lives affected their wellbeing.

These included taking a break from social media, distracting themselves from negativity online, seeking more positive experiences on the internet and quitting social media.

Livingstone said: “Children have got the message – from their parents, the media, their own experiences – that too much social media isn’t always good for them. So they are experimenting with different ways of protecting their wellbeing, without wanting to give up on social media entirely.

“I’m sure they’re talking to each other about what works for them and figuring out the way ahead.”

Daisy Greenwell, co-founder of the Smartphone Free Childhood campaign, said she was increasingly speaking to young people who were “questioning the idea that growing up online is inevitable”.

She added: “We regularly hear from teenagers who are exhausted by the pressure of being permanently connected and who are choosing to step back for their own mental health.

“Many of them are waking up to the fact that these platforms aren’t neutral. They’re designed to manipulate attention. They are realising that their time, focus and self-esteem are being monetised by some of the world’s biggest companies. Taking a break has become an act of rebellion.”

A report last year from Ofcom, the media regulator, found that 33% of eight- to 17-year-olds who were online thought their screen time was too high. Another report found that 47% of 16 to 24-year-olds who used social media deactivated notifications and deployed the “do not disturb” mode.

David Ellis, a professor of behavioural science at the University of Bath, said teenagers may have discovered the features that let people control their time on social media and smartphones more quickly than their parents had.

Ellis added: “If someone is going to spend less time sitting in front of a screen and instead increase their levels of physical activity, then most people would probably view that as a net positive. On the other hand, that time could be replaced by something else less beneficial.

” People aged 18 to 25 who spoke to the Guardian in May said they felt their “parent’s generation didn’t have a clue” and had granted too much access to digital devices too young.