Bans on social media and phones: what's the evidence? - What in the World podcast, BBC World Service

We explore different approaches to social media and phone bans around the world.

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Phones have become an essential part of most people’s everyday lives, and debates about them in schools - as well as teenagers’ access to social media - are internationally hot topics.

BBC journalist Hayley Clarke joins us in the studio to talk through different approaches to social media and phone bans in schools around the world. We also hear from students in France and the US about how they would feel about potential bans.

Hannah Ritchie, a BBC journalist, chats to us from Australia, where the government says it will introduce "world-leading" legislation to ban children under 16 from social media.

Plus we hear from two professors on opposing sides of the debate, and ask whether the scientific evidence behind the bans is robust.

00:00 Introduction
00:50 Screen time challenge
03:15 Average screen time statistics
04:16 Which countries are banning phones and social media?
05:45 Australia banning under-16s from social media
07:15 Evidence for smartphones affecting mental health
07:50 Modern childhood transformation theory
09:42 Other studies into impacts of smartphones
10:55 Why some experts think bans won’t work
12:38 Cause and effect
13:15 US student shares what they think
14:30 French students share what they think
17:05 What do companies say?
17:58 Tips to reduce screen time

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Presenter: Hannah Gelbart
Producers: Julia Ross-Roy, Hayley Clarke and Emilia Jansson
Video journalist: Adam Chowdhury
Editor: Verity Wilde

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