{"id":4143,"date":"2026-03-02T14:16:37","date_gmt":"2026-03-02T14:16:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bangbizarre.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/02\/youngsters-may-face-overnight-social-media-ban\/"},"modified":"2026-03-02T14:16:39","modified_gmt":"2026-03-02T14:16:39","slug":"youngsters-may-face-overnight-social-media-ban","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bangbizarre.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/02\/youngsters-may-face-overnight-social-media-ban\/","title":{"rendered":"Youngsters may face overnight social media ban"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><b>2026-03-02 14:16:37<\/b><br \/>\n<BR>Youngsters could soon be forced offline at bedtime under tough new UK Government plans to curb social media use.<BR><br \/>\nMinisters are considering overnight curfews for children as part of a sweeping crackdown on screen time, amid growing fears about sleep disruption, poor concentration and spiralling mental health problems.<BR><br \/>\nThe move comes as millions of parents say they feel locked in a \u201closing battle\u201d with tech giants over their children\u2019s online habits.<BR><br \/>\nThe Whitehall consultation, launching on Monday (02.03.26), will also examine possible restrictions on access to AI chatbots and gaming sites, as well as pressure on tech firms to disable addictive features like autoplay and infinite scrolling.<BR><br \/>\nEducation Secretary Bridget Phillipson is quoted by The Sun newspaper as saying: &#8220;No child should feel their world is confined to a screen and the fact that white working-class girls are now among the highest users of social media should concern us all.<BR><br \/>\n&#8220;Opportunity should be for every child, whatever their background, but we know that for some children where there isn\u2019t access to clubs, activities or wider experiences, social media and the harmful online world can fill that void.<BR><br \/>\n&#8220;That is why we are today launching the world\u2019s most ambitious consultation on children\u2019s online safety \u2013 and we want every parent, young person and family to have their say.&#8221;<BR><br \/>\nMinisters are also seeking views on whether to introduce an Australia-style ban preventing under-16s from using social media altogether.<BR><br \/>\nChris Sherwood, chief executive of the NSPCC, said: &#8220;The Government was right that the status quo is not working.<BR><br \/>\n&#8220;Ultimately, this process can only be judged if it leads to safer, healthier, age-appropriate online lives for children.<BR><br \/>\n&#8220;This must include forcing tech companies to keep under-13s off social media, stopping platforms using design tricks and blocking harmful content at the source.&#8221;<BR><br \/>\nTechnology Secretary Liz Kendall added: &#8220;We know parents are grappling with how much screen time their children should have, when they should give them a phone and what they are seeing online.<BR><br \/>\n&#8220;This is why we\u2019re asking children and parents to take part in this landmark consultation.&#8221;<BR><br \/>\nPilot schemes with families and teenagers will test the proposed measures before any final decisions are made. <BR><br \/>\nThe consultation closes at the end of May, with a Government response expected this summer.<br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/bangbizarre.com\/\" target=\"_blank\"> Visit Bang Bizarre (main website) <\/a><br \/>\n<br \/><script src=\"https:\/\/geo.dailymotion.com\/player\/xtbac.js\" data-video=\"\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>2026-03-02 14:16:37 Youngsters could soon be forced offline at bedtime under tough new UK Government plans to curb social media use. Ministers are considering overnight curfews for children as part&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3083,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4143","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bizarre"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bangbizarre.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4143","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bangbizarre.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bangbizarre.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bangbizarre.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bangbizarre.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4143"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/bangbizarre.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4143\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4144,"href":"https:\/\/bangbizarre.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4143\/revisions\/4144"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bangbizarre.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3083"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bangbizarre.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4143"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bangbizarre.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4143"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bangbizarre.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4143"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}