Jun 18, 2026 · 30 min
Researchers challenge scientific evidence behind proposed social media ban
Finding the evidence for the social media ban
As governments rush to regulate digital spaces for youth, understanding the limits of current psychological data is critical to making effective policy.
- 1Proving a direct causal link between social media use and teenage mental health decline remains highly challenging for researchers.
- 2Prehistoric plague strains found near Lake Baikal suggest human-to-human transmission occurred much earlier than previously thought.
- 3Game theory helps optimize soccer penalty shootouts, while late-night match broadcasts are linked to traffic accidents in Asia.
Don't miss
Kit Yates explains the unexpected correlation between European soccer broadcasts and sleep-deprived traffic accidents in Asia.
The brief
The UK government is moving to ban social media for under-16s, but researchers warn that the scientific evidence justifying such a sweeping policy remains highly contested and difficult to prove causally.
Experts Amy Orben and Catherine Sebastian argue that while digital platforms influence adolescent well-being, isolating social media as a direct cause of mental health struggles ignores complex, overlapping social factors.
Shifting from modern screens to ancient DNA, archaeogeneticist Rory McLeod shares how prehistoric plague strains discovered near Lake Baikal in Siberia point to surprisingly early human-to-human transmission.
Applying mathematics to the soccer pitch, Kit Yates explains how game theory dictates penalty shootouts and reveals a bizarre link between late-night European matches and rising traffic accidents in Asia.
Featuring
Amy Orben
Social media's impact on teen mental healthBooks & mentions
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