Most teenagers to switch off optional overnight curfews on social media, study shows

Most teenagers to switch off optional overnight curfews on social media, study shows Youngsters aged 16- and 17-years-old will face an automatic block from accessing platforms from midnight to 6am - but research shows they plan to switch the curfew off next spring Most teenagers plan to switch off a voluntary overnight curfew on social media which is due to come into effect next spring, polling suggests. Youngsters aged 16 and 17 will face an automatic block from accessing platforms from midnight to 6am under online safety plans unveiled last month. But polling by Censuswide has found 84.6% of 16- to 18-year-olds said they would opt out of the proposed curfews. Almost half of kids (45.2%) said they’d switch off the curfew to allow them to speak to family or friends, while more than a third (37.2%) said they’d do so to watch online content. More than a third of 16- to 18-year-olds (38%) are already using VPNs in daily life, with one in four (24%) expecting to use them to bypass curfew. VPNs (Virtual Private Networks) obscures a user's location or details allowing them to get around UK online safety laws. Keir Starmer introduced online curfews and restrictions on addictive design features, such as infinite scrolling, to help prevent a cliff edge when kids hit their 16th birthday and an upcoming social media ban lifts. But ministers said the measures would be voluntary to strike a balance between giving older teenagers greater safeguards online while still allowing them to control their settings. Then-Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson suggested the voluntary element to curfews could be changed if it was found many teenagers were switching off the default settings. Asked about their social media habits, almost four in ten (39%) teens aged 16 to 18 said they use social media between 9pm and 11pm, while more than a third (35%) continue scrolling between 11pm and 1am, the study found. Leanne Proctor, regulatory lead at the Online Responsibility Network, which organised the polling, said the research suggests a curfew is “unlikely to be enough on its own to prevent online harms”. “This research suggests the proposed social media curfew is unlikely to be enough on its own to prevent online harms," she said. "The findings show that many young people expect to opt out of the restrictions or find ways around them, raising questions about how effective the policy will be in practice. "There is no single solution to protecting children online. Rather than relying on broad service-level restrictions, greater focus should be placed on design feature-level protections and robust age assurance, helping to ensure young people have age-appropriate experiences without unnecessarily restricting access." Last month, then-Technology Secretary Liz Kendall, who lost her job when Andy Burnham became PM, said infinite scrolling - where a user's feed continuously loads - will be switched off for 16 and 17-year-old, while overnight curfews from midnight to 6am will be in place. Autoplay videos, which are clips that automatically play one after another, and recommender feeds that push a personalised stream of content will also be switched off by default. Some campaigners and bereaved families were fiercely in favour of a social media ban as the solution to a spiralling online harms crisis. But other experts believe a blanket ban creates a false sense of security, warning that kids will bypass the ban or be pushed into darker spaces online. A Government spokesman said: “Young people will have a choice in how they navigate social media as they grow into adulthood. “In our national poll, 64% of young people aged 16 to 21 supported restricting children from certain apps at night and our trials found overnight curfews quickly became part of daily routines and helped improve sleep and concentration. “We are providing strong protections by default while giving 16- and 17-year-olds the ability to decide whether those protections fit their circumstances, recognising they are capable of making informed decisions.” ::: Censuswide polled 1,000 16- to 18-year-olds on behalf of Online Responsibility Network between July 21-27.