Online child safety should come first, not Big Tech profits
For all the noise that surrounds Westminster, it’s the quiet conversations around family dining tables, in school classrooms and community centres in Rochdale that matter most to me as the MP for our town.
And one theme that comes regularly through more clearly than any other: young people are carrying pressures that adults have been too slow to confront for too long.
One of the most acute pressures is digital.
For years, parents have worried that smartphones and social media are reshaping childhood in ways no one fully understands. As a father of three sons, I share that deep concern.
Teachers say the same: attention spans frayed, friendships strained, sleep disrupted. That’s why I was pleased when the government issued guidance last month encouraging schools to go phone‑free during the day.
This week’s new consultation on restricting social media access for under‑16s goes further still, and it will strike a chord with families who feel they’ve been left to manage a technological tidal wave on their own.
Many parents are not anti‑progress, and they can see some obvious benefits of the digital world. Some children value online friendship groups of like minds and interests, some with special needs can thrive digitally too.
Yet what’s striking is how many Rochdale parents tell me the same thing: they are just exhausted by the constant battle over both screen time and over how to keep their children safe online.
Big tech firms are making huge profits out of this experiment, with our kids as labrats, and it’s time to look seriously at how to put our children first.
As a government, we are now asking parents, young people themselves and experts for views on what stronger protections should look like.
Key ideas being explored include whether there should be a minimum age for social media and whether platforms should be required to switch off addictive features that keep children hooked late into the night – like infinite scrolling and autoplay.
We will also look at whether to ban AI chatbots from interacting with children and how to strengthen age verification enforcement. There will be real-world pilot schemes with families and teenagers to test how any changes might work in practice.
The consultation will close on May 26 and I encourage all parents in Rochdale, Littleborough, Milnrow and Newhey to either email me directly at paul.waugh.mp@parliament.uk or go to the government website here: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/landmark-consultation-seeks-views-on-major-measures-to-protect-children-on-social-media-gaming-platforms-and-ai-chatbots
Most importantly, we want to act quickly. An amendment to the Children’s Well-being and Schools Bill will allow the government to act at pace on the consultation’s findings.
This means that once that amendment is passed, ministers can move within months instead of waiting years for new legislation every time technology evolves.
Family hubs also maybe need to show new parents that handing your child a library book is often better than handing them a phone or a tablet.
Of course, digital pressures are only part of the story in helping our youngsters. Free breakfast clubs in primary schools will help family finances, make life easier for working parents and help children too.
More and better funded apprenticeships, backed by a Youth Guarantee, will give school leavers a much better crack at a decently paid job and career. More youth workers and cheaper community sports facilities will help turn youths away from crime and drugs too.
But the pandemic showed how much we humans really need in-person contact. So we should make a start in turning the digital tide and reclaiming our youngsters’ attention and wellbeing.