Independent report
Children's wellbeing online: social media quantitative and qualitative report
Research into parents' and children's views on social media use, potential restrictions, and the possible introduction of an under-16 ban.
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This report looks at how parents, children and young people view social media — including its benefits and risks — and what they think about possible restrictions such as an under-16 ban.
It draws on 2 nationally representative surveys (one of parents and one of children and young people) carried out by Savanta, alongside a public consultation - Growing up in the online world: a national consultation.
The research covers:
- patterns of how children access devices and use social media
- views on the benefits and harms of social media
- support for a social media ban for under-16s
- attitudes towards alternatives such as platform-based, feature-level and time-based restrictions
- expectations about the likely outcomes of different types of restriction
- views on the benefits and risks of AI chatbots for children, and the case for AI-specific restrictions, particularly around age limits
- attitudes towards age assurance measures
- media and digital literacy
Updates to this page
Published 15 July 2026