If there’s one thing the current crop of joy-sucking Labour legislators excel at, it’s introducing bans. Though this might irk unrepentant pub garden smokers like me, it’s harder to object to when it comes to safeguarding children’s health. 

Recent, quite reasonable measures have included axing pre-watershed junk food ads, stopping the sale of energy drinks to the under-16s and prohibiting vape companies from targeting children. But there’s one simple act our ban-happy government won’t entertain — it seems there is no appetite for restricting kids’ access to smartphones.

Earlier this week the Telegraph reported that the Labour Party had ruled out a ban on smartphones in schools despite guidance from the former administration advising they be restricted. Perhaps this ought not to be a surprise, Sir Keir Starmer has previously also rejected barring their sale to under-16s. It seems under Labour, as to be fair with their ineffectual predecessors, the decision about how to manage the problems caused by children’s constant access to social media, and indeed pornography, is to be delegated to headteachers. This is, to put it inelegantly, mental.

From small parents’ groups to international NGOs, demands to restrict children’s access to smartphones are growing and the reasons are grounded in both common sense and science.

As Richard Collard, Associate Head for Child Safety Online Policy at the NSPCC, told The Critic:

Having smartphones in schools can be a significant distraction for children, disrupting their learning and time with their peers.

Removing phones from the school day can help young people take breaks from their devices, allowing them to focus better in the classroom and supporting their wellbeing. Schools should be supported in implementing these changes in the best way for their pupils.

Collard also noted that a ban on smartphones in schools ought not to distract policy makers from ensuring tech companies fulfil their responsibilities to protect children.

A revealing pattern underscores these concerns; depression and anxiety have soared amongst teenagers at exactly the same time as phone ownership has risen. Today in the UK, 20 per cent of three- and four-year-olds have their own phone, rising to a staggering 97 per cent of children by the age of 12. Meanwhile, NHS mental health services for young people are straining under the weight of unprecedented demand.

While any social scientist will caution that correlation does not equal causation, there is now an Everest of evidence that unfettered access to smartphones is hurting the next generation.

Jonathan Haidt sets out the case in his groundbreaking book on the topic, The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness. He is clear that the kids are really not okay, noting that since 2012 across all racial and social classes, depression has become roughly two and a half times more prevalent for children between the ages of 12-17. Suicide rates have also surged over the past decade, most drastically for girls; tripling between the ages of 10-14 and doubling for those aged 15-19.

The argument that pathologically unhappy kids simply need to toughen up is a sneering cop out that fails to acknowledge the scale of the problem. Kids are being made ill by a digital drug. As with any adult addict, they are then turning back to it to help ease the problems caused by its use.

British children spend an average of 127 minutes every day on TikTok. It is true that some influencers on the platform have gained huge followings by whining about their real or imagined psychiatric complaints. Undoubtedly, this is unhelpful to both the content creators themselves, trapping them in their online image, and the youngsters who emulate them. But the blame doesn’t lie with the children who spout or follow nonsense on social media, but rather with the tech titans who profit from and spread this suffering. 

School, at the very least, ought to provide a refuge from this digital onslaught

Today, it is estimated that within the space of 24 hours the average child will receive 237 phone notifications. It ought not to take university research departments to recognise that this volume of messages can’t fail to impact on children’s ability to concentrate, to engage in face-to-face contact and to sleep. These basic needs and skills are what keep us mentally and physically healthy. The clueless and cowardly politicians who govern us have permitted technology companies to hack and rewire children’s brains to suit their needs. That this has led to a catastrophic surge in suffering and a rise in maladapted behaviours is unsurprising, and that the source of unhappiness is technological doesn’t make the effects any less devastating.

School, at the very least, ought to provide a refuge from this digital onslaught. A space where kids can acquire the social skills and resilience they need to become healthy adults. But instead of recognising this, of taking one simple step to protect schoolchildren, Sir Keir Starmer has instead promised cash for yet more youth mental health clinics, mopping up a problem that needs to be turned off at the source.

Perhaps the Labour Party is fearful of the reaction of potential young voters, those of Gen Z and below who might resent the removal of their phones will be eligible to cast their votes in 2029. Or alternatively the government might be afraid of angering the gods of Silicon Valley. But whatever the reason, Starmer’s failure to take a stand on this will not only risk the lives of individual children, it will jeopardise the future of generations to come.