Will the UK social media ban have the promised positive impact on Scottish education?
On 15 June, in one of the last acts of his premiership, Keir Starmer announced that the government would pursue a UK-wide ban on social media use for under-16s. This was branded as “siding with families over tech companies to put power back in parents’ hands and giving kids the childhood they deserve.” It had broad public support, with a government consultation showing 90% approval amongst parents, and a YouGov poll revealing that 74% of adults support the ban.
Despite this endorsement, the potential effects of the ban are unclear, as other countries’ ban rollouts have come very recently, notably Australia in late 2025 and Indonesia in 2026. The Department of Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) piloted these restrictions earlier this year and found that participants “reported a range of perceived benefits[…] including improvements to wellbeing, sleep, and family life”, and that “lasting impact appeared to be more likely where restrictions were supported by education and practical guidance and framed as a collective norm rather than an individual imposition.” The conclusions of this trial seem to recommend a social media ban be implemented for children, but admits that “the evidence does not support strong assumptions about uniform impact, easy implementation, or the long-term sustainability of restrictions without wider support.”
The ban comes at a time when Scotland’s education system has struggled with declining PISA scores, and the Scottish Government has recently reported a “perceived decline in pupil behaviour”, with increases from 2016 in both low-level disruptions and disengagement. Social media use has been linked both with inattention symptoms and with increased irritability. With 79% of UK 3-17 year-olds now having a social media account, it is reasonable to ask whether social media use is behind some of these pressures, and whether the social media ban will contribute to a normalisation of behaviours, which could improve the capabilities of students and lives of teachers going forward.
The Glasgow Guardian spoke to Gillian Campbell-Thow, head teacher of The Glasgow Gaelic School, who said that she would “absolutely welcome” a social media ban. The school is one of a few in Scotland to have implemented a full mobile phone ban during class time, which Gillian claims has been effective, and has also been “100% easy to enforce”. She says that pupils are talking to each other more now, and have “increased attention span and focus on lessons”. The school has maintained its position near the top of the Scottish Schools Rankings through this time.
When asked why other schools hadn’t rolled out this same policy, she cited differing priorities amongst schools, and said that she doesn’t believe in a one-size-fits-all approach to mobile phones in schools. Gillian also says that mandating that schools confiscate mobile phones isn’t practical, and that she is “not prepared as a head teacher to take responsibility for 600 devices”. Many pupils rely on their mobile phones to contact parents and carers, especially in rural schools, or for pupils who have long commutes.
The social media ban, however, should not impede general mobile phone use, and would rather restrict usage of a few selected platforms for children. The government has not yet announced which platforms would be banned, but have stated that they “plan to use the same model for a social media ban as Australia. Their model included platforms like Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, Snapchat, Facebook and X.” Notably, the Australian ban leaves out many platforms including Discord and Roblox, which have recently provided platforms for children to be subject to sextortion and grooming.
Gillian says that she would support a blanket ban on social media platforms, and that children will flock from one to another if there are some left unaffected. The government has explicitly stated that platforms like WhatsApp and Signal will not be included in the ban, distinguishing them as “messaging services”.
Another teacher, who wished to remain anonymous, told The Glasgow Guardian: “Not only are social media platforms with their addictive algorithms a problem, but we also have WhatsApp groups with all 100 first years, with a new post every 20 seconds; inappropriate material being served to young people throughout the day, constant notifications and distractions, misinformation, impossible or fake beauty standards, and extreme political views.”
He hopes that “in the future, apps and algorithms will be more tightly monitored to ensure that they are less addictive and intrusive”, and says he looks forward to seeing the social media ban implemented next year.
Both teachers highlighted the burden on teachers to control the phone usage of pupils, and that this detracted from teaching and learning. “Putting all of society’s problems onto schools to fix isn’t the answer”, The Glasgow Guardian was told. There is already a large workload placed on teachers in Scotland, and the EIS, Scotland’s largest teacher trade union, balloted in favour of industrial action earlier this year to reduce contact hours, before reaching an agreement with the Scottish Government and COSLA. The EIS did not respond to a request for comment on the social media ban.
There has been no public comment from Education Scotland or the Scottish Government on the social media ban, although in January the government stated that they would “consult closely with parents, experts, and most importantly children and young people in Scotland, to clarify how we can enable children with access to the benefits of social media while protecting them from the harms.”
Guidance from the Scottish Government encourages schools to limit mobile phone usage, “up to and including restricting access to mobile phones for personal use in schools across the school day”, while making exemptions for young carers, pupils with disabilities who use their mobile phone as part of a reasonable adjustment, pupils who have medical conditions that require monitoring using mobile technology, and pupils with additional support needs where access to their mobile phone is used as part of an agreed, planned approach to managing their learning needs.
The charity Children In Scotland responded to the announcement of the social media ban, saying that while it “welcomes action to help safeguard children and young people online”, it does not support a blanket ban on social media use. Regarding the ban, the organisation says: “This is a complex issue, and we feel that this is a very blunt tool that will not immediately make all children and young people safer. It will, in fact, have negative impacts on whole groups who depend on social media for connectivity, support and their development.”
