Episode

UK social media ban: an end to brain rot and doomscrolling?

Podcast
The Story
Published
Jun 16, 2026
Duration seconds
1884
Processing state
not_requested
Canonical source
https://shows.acast.com/storiesofourtimes/episodes/uk-social-media-ban-an-end-to-brain-rot-and-doomscrolling
Audio
https://sphinx.acast.com/p/acast/s/storiesofourtimes/e/6a30464c0592e82545be18f3/media.mp3
JSON
/v1/public/podcasts/the-story-26954/episodes/uk-social-media-ban-an-end-to-brain-rot-and-doomscrolling
Markdown
/podcast/the-story-26954/uk-social-media-ban-an-end-to-brain-rot-and-doomscrolling.md

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Summary

The government has announced a ban on some social media platforms for under-16s. It’s a move that echoes a similar ban introduced by the Australian government, which came into effect in December. So what are teens actually looking at on social media? And will a ban help?  This podcast was brought to you thanks to the support of readers of The Times and The Sunday Times. Subscribe today: http://thetimes.com/thestory Guest: Mark Sellman, technology correspondent, The Times. Host: Manveen Rana. Producers: Micaela Arneson, Harry Bligh. We want to hear from you - email: [email protected] Read more: Doomscrolling 708 videos a day: how TikTok turned our teens into addicts   Further listening: How infinite scrolling damages our brains - The Saturday Story Clips: The Times, Times Radio, Revealing Reality, BBC News, Sky News. Photo: Getty Images. This podcast was brought to you thanks to subscribers of The Times and The Sunday Times. To enjoy unlimited digital access to all our journalism subscribe  here . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.