Childhood in the Algorithm: Why Banning Social Media Won’t Save Our Children 1. Introduction It is 11:47 p.m. A thirteen-year-old lies awake in the glowing light of her neon-pink iPhone. The soft ping of notifications is constant, like rain tapping on a window. Notifications flicker. Videos autoplay. A stranger sends a message that feels friendly at first. This is not an abstract policy debate. It is the daily reality of childhood in the age of social media. In the United Kingdom, the question of whether children under 16 should be banned from social media has become a public concern. Parents are frightened. Teachers are exhausted. Politicians are under pressure to act decisively. Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has floated the idea of an outright ban, while the current Labour government has placed its faith in regulation through the Online Safety Act, which has been rolled out in stages since 2024. Instead of these binary choices, an approach involving behavioural 'nudges' ...