New rules loom: Could kids soon face time limits when online or on social media?

National World - LocalTV

Parliament is considering a two-hour daily screen time limit for under-16s - plus curfews and lock outs. Ministers say it’s about protecting youngsters wellbeing and giving parents more control.

Transcript

00:00The government is considering strict new rules on how long under-16s can spend on social media.

00:08A daily two-hour time cap per app, including platforms like TikTok and Snapchat,

00:15is amongst the measures actively discussed by the Technology Secretary Peter Kyle.

00:20He says some children are spending more than 12 hours a day online,

00:24often encountering violent or sexual content, and that parents feel powerless to intervene.

00:32There's a concern about the amount of time that children, particularly small children,

00:36indeed even preschool children, but nonetheless children up to the age of 16 and beyond,

00:42it's surely not healthy spending all day, particularly when the sun is shining at the moment,

00:47they should be out in the garden or in the park doing the things that I did at that age,

00:51when, of course, the internet had yet to be invented, or, of course, it was a dream.

00:56I speak with some degree of experience, having sort of brought up two boys.

01:00I recognise that there is that seductiveness, and particularly, of course, teenage boys trying to get them to bed

01:08because, of course, they need their sleep when, of course, they're in the middle of a game,

01:11because, of course, it is highly addictive.

01:13The government's proposals follow a year-long focus group with teenagers in Darlington,

01:19where many described compulsive scrolling, poor sleep and online contact from strangers.

01:26Some teens welcomed the idea of tougher restrictions, saying existing controls are easy to bypass.

01:34Others said app design encourages excessive use.

01:38Mr Carr said the goal is not only to prevent criminal exploitation, but to promote healthier online habits.

01:45He's currently overseeing implementation of the 2023 Online Safety Act,

01:52which will enforce mandatory age checks for adult websites.

01:57Critics, including Laura Tross, say the new proposals are too slow and won't go far enough.

02:04Social media companies say they already offer parental controls,

02:07but only TikTok responded directly, saying it supports a 10pm curfew reminder

02:13and a 60-minute time limit for teens, which can be overridden with a passcode.

02:20In terms of the two-hour deadline, I think the argument might be,

02:26at least the riposte would be for a lot of people, well, good luck with that,

02:29because, of course, who is going to police it?

02:32It comes down to parents, and, of course, as we know, many parents,

02:35they see this as a way, if you like, of allowing their children to do things,

02:39which keeps them quiet, often their own bedrooms.

02:42And, of course, there is also a belief with a great deal of justification

02:46if they're in their bedrooms, they're safe as opposed to being on the streets

02:49with all the problems that that may bring and the dangers.

02:54Billy Connolly, at the advent of the internet, called it the worldwide dustbin.

02:57Well, yeah, he may have sort of heard there was a great truth in that.

03:01But undoubtedly, yeah, it's a sort of murky place.

03:04And, of course, as we sort of know, that sort of children,

03:06they don't have the sort of, if you like, the sort of the inbound

03:09sort of safety measures built in, as it were.

03:12So in that sort of sense that they will sort of explore places

03:15where perhaps we wouldn't want them to go.

03:17And the difficulty is, unless you're standing over their shoulders

03:20watching where they're going and what they're doing and getting access to porn,

03:23which, let's face it, it's not very hard to sort of do.

03:26Whatever sort of controls you may think you have on the sort of the screen,

03:30children are very good at getting around them.

03:32It's a big, big problem.

03:34And it's not one that's going to be solved very easily.

03:36And the two-hour limit, it's well-intentioned.

03:40But, of course, as they say, the road to hell is paved within good intentions.

03:43So difficult because, as I say, it's going to require parents to sort of engage a lot more.

03:47And, of course, of course, we know parents these days are busy with lots of other things also.

03:51But in overall terms, yeah, I think the limit is a good thing.

03:56The policing is where it sort of starts to sort of become a bit questionable.

03:59As debate continues, the question is not just how much time children spend online,

04:03but who should be responsible for setting boundaries.

04:07Ministers say it's time to give parents more tools and to ease the pressure of constant monitoring.

04:12They argue that limiting screen time and access to certain apps is no different from setting a regular bedtime or limiting suites.

04:22But privacy groups warn of unintended consequences.

04:25Either way, it's a conversation that shows no sign of slowing down.

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