Youth need a future, not a social media ban

Since banning porn with the Online Safety Act (see Workers Hammer no 256, Autumn 2025), the liberals have now turned their attention to social media. Although the initial plan introduced by the “Lords” to implement an Australia-style total ban on social media for under 16s has been blocked for now, a swarm of Tory, Liberal Democrat and Labour MPs, as well as trade union leaders and washed-up celebs, are still pushing for it. The Labour government itself has not ruled it out completely, instead stalling for a “consultation period”. Finished with fleecing the disabled, the now Science Secretary (whatever that is) Liz Kendall has been given powers to “restrict or ban children of certain ages from accessing social media services and chat bots”. This is a heated topic for parents and to chart a way forward for youth, the question must be put on the right terrain.

We should start by being frank: social media can be harmful. Kids glued to their phones, “doom scrolling” instead of being interactive and present in the real world, is not progressive. Boys only having to be on social media for 30 minutes before Andrew Tate pops up is not a good thing. And the obsession over how many “likes” and “comments” for meaningless posts and cringe selfies is further degrading the mental health of generations suicide watch, AKA Gens Z and Alpha.

Never mind the pro-genocide and anti-worker parliamentarians for a moment; the many parents who support this ban do it out of the sincere love and fierce protection they have for their kids. Most parents want their young to have a life that is as carefree as possible so that they can focus on the things that matter at that age, ie, making friends, learning new things, etc, to lay the groundwork for a stable and happy adult life. But here lies the first problem. This is, unfortunately, an impossible illusion in today’s Broken Britain.

Schools are a crumbling and cramped mess: underfunded, overfilled, understaffed, with teachers past the point of burnout. But economic restraint is only half the problem. Every turbulent social issue in society is brought to school, with the school boards only having liberal nonsense as a response, leaving teachers defenceless against the brewing storm of reaction. As for students, just making it through the day is getting more impossible in this environment, not even speaking of the huge pressure they face to get decent grades.

Look beyond the awful walls of school and what is there for youth? Well, not much. Future good job prospects are non-existent, wars are breaking out around the globe and social relations between people are just as broken as the country itself. It is a sad state of affairs; kids can’t just put that to the side and delude themselves with a comfortable world that doesn’t exist. Social media is the “natural” place to turn for an escape, a distraction, whatever you want to call it, in this terrible, rotting society. An effective ban on social media will only make youth turn to darker corners of the web to get their fix.

Here is the second problem: whilst social media offers an escape, it is still a reflection of society. If kids want to drown in an online world, it is because they are desperately trying to hide from a real world that sucks. If boys cannot go 30 minutes without seeing Andrew Tate, it is because he resonates with the anger felt in their lives. If insecurity over “likes” and “comments” dominates the priorities of a young person, it is because their real life is so void of genuine meaning. Tackling the very real addiction, harmful content and draining of mental health that social media creates requires a fight against the society we live in. Anything else not only stops short but undermines that struggle.

Why is this? Young people are curious, confused and vulnerable beings. They have not socialised properly yet, they are interpreting and learning to understand the world in a way that is aspirational but also primitive and dependent on adults. More precisely, they are developing their independence whilst materially still being dependent on their parents, stuck in the dreadful crisis society is in. This is the contradiction with youth and social media. On the one hand, social media offers an idealistic aspiration of independence; a world without your parents and adult expectations. You can be a freer expression of yourself and explore interests not accessible elsewhere. On the other hand, everything created in this world still flows from the real world and intensifies all its ills—isolation, hopelessness and depravity.

This is necessary to understand. Society today works as an obstacle to youth freedom, and no one has any real answers. Obviously, youth will cling to any kind of shortcut that gives them a space where they can feel like they are achieving their aims to some degree, even if it is a fantasy. To push youth forward, we must win them to fight for a society that is better. Blocking them from social media is only cutting them off from a tiny window into their aspirations.

Now, back to those genocide-loving and working-class-hating parliamentarians. Here lies problem three: all they have ever done and continue to do is wreck this country even more. The social media ban is an attempt to plaster over a gouging wound. We need to rebuild industry, build homes, strip bare the City of London and empower the working class to create the conditions where youth can prosper. This is everything they are opposed to and ultimately why life is so dire for young people. Independence from these swine means everything in the fight for youth.