Almost half of young people would prefer a world without internet, UK study finds

[highplainsdem]

Source: Guardian

The research reveals that nearly 70% of 16- to 21-year-olds feel worse about themselves after spending time on social media. Half (50%) would support a “digital curfew” that would restrict their access to certain apps and sites past 10pm, while 46% said they would rather be young in a world without the internet altogether.

A quarter of respondents spent four or more hours a day on social media, while 42% of those surveyed admitted to lying to their parents and guardians about what they do online.

While online, 42% said they had lied about their age, 40% admitted to having a decoy or “burner” account, and 27% said they pretended to be a different person completely.

The results came after the technology secretary, Peter Kyle, hinted that the government was weighing up the possibility of making cut-off times mandatory for certain apps such as TikTok and Instagram.

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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/may/20/almost-half-of-young-people-would-prefer-a-world-without-internet-uk-study-finds

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And now the tech lords, including those who've made social media so harmful, are making the internet much more toxic with generative AI.

And the UK's technology secretary, despite hinting at concern for the kids, seems desperate to do everything he can to keep the AI companies happy, including proposing giving the AI bros free use of UK citizens' intellectual property. And he's stupidly.enchanted by OpenAI's hallucinating ChatGPT bot.

https://theconversation.com/why-a-journalist-could-obtain-a-ministers-chatgpt-prompts-and-what-it-means-for-transparency-252269

When the New Scientist revealed that it had obtained a UK government minister’s ChatGPT prompts through a freedom of information (FOI) request, many in journalism and politics did a double take. Science and technology minister Peter Kyle had apparently asked the AI chatbot to draft a speech, explain complex policy and – more memorably – tell him what podcasts to appear on.

He should be the subject of a Monty Python skit, not the technology minister.

Kids are drowning in a digital swamp. Society owes them a rescue. Most of those kids would have been much better off growing up before the internet and smart phones.

And governments manipulated by tech lords are the last thing kids need.