When Entire Countries Limit Social Media, It’s Worth Paying Attention
Photo by Gaelle Marcel on Unsplash
This month, France is debating banning social media for children under 15 starting in 2026. It’s a headline that grabs attention—and for good reason. These conversations are emerging because parents, educators, researchers, and policymakers are all increasingly recognizing that the digital environment young people are growing up in is demanding more of them than we ever anticipated.
Political proposals to restrict social media use for younger teens reflect the growing global concern about mental health, attention deficits, and online stress. Digital bans signal something important: society is beginning to acknowledge that adolescent development and the current digital landscape are misaligned.
Research helps explain why.
As Dr. Eva Telzer shared in a recent JOMO parent webinar, “Adolescents are picking up and checking their phone 100 times a day,” with some “checking their phones upwards of 400 times a day.” This kind of constant engagement affects how teens rest, focus, relate, and regulate their emotions. And it’s happening during a developmental stage when the brain is especially sensitive to social feedback and rewards.
That’s why many of our partner schools have adopted phone-free classrooms and governments are exploring age-based limits. These efforts aren’t about making technology the bad guy; they’re about recognizing that young people need support as they grow into it.
For those of us who are parents, headlines like these can raise questions: What should we be doing at home? Are we doing enough? Are we limiting too much?
So, what can we do?
Dr. Telzer offered one practical place to begin: “One of the easiest things for every single parent to do starting tonight is to take the phone away from adolescents at night.” Protecting sleep is one of the clearest ways to support teen mental health, learning, and overall well-being.
Our household does this. We have a phone curfew for our kids and a central charging station on the main floor. We also use Apple’s downtime feature to shut off access to certain apps to help us wind down for a good night’s sleep. It’s not always about working against tech but using the best available digital well-being features in our devices to support our values and goals.
Equally important is how parents approach the conversation itself. Rather than leading with fear or criticism, Dr. Telzer encourages a posture of curiosity and connection: “Parents should help adolescents to understand how important social media is in their online lives, validate that, and talk to them about it. When parents talk negatively about that, it immediately tells adolescents that the parent is not the person that an adolescent should come and talk to if they are experiencing problems.”
At JOMO, we’ve found that the most lasting change doesn’t come from rules alone, but from helping young people slow down and reflect on how technology is actually shaping their lives. When adolescents are given space to notice what drains them, what restores them, and what truly brings joy, they’re more likely to make healthy choices—both online and offline.
