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Author Name: Alec Muffett
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Academic accused of bias for opposing smartphone ban in schools

2025-05

The academic leading a government review into the impact of smartphones on teenagers has voiced her opposition to bans on social media and devices in schools.

Amy Orben, a programme leader at the MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, Cambridge University, is running a study of the relationship between smartphones, social media and mental health.

Some politicians and activists had hoped that the review could lead to Britain following Australia in banning social media for under-16s.

However, Orben co-wrote an article in the BMJ last week which described bans on smartphones in schools and on social media as “unrealistic and potentially detrimental”. It said: “Overall, blanket restrictions are ‘stop gap’ solutions that do little to support children’s longer-term healthy engagement with digital spaces across school, home and other contexts.”

The authors argued that “restricting access to devices can undermine children’s rights to technology design and education that will help them thrive as adults in today’s world”.

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The article has prompted accusations of bias from campaigners and MPs. Orben’s appointment had caused concern among a group of about 25 Labour MPs who back greater regulation of digital technologies. Many have junior roles in government and cannot speak publicly.

Jess Assato, a Labour MP who sits on the education committee, said the smartphone research was “incredibly welcome” but “hoped that it would have been undertaken in a dispassionate way by a researcher who hadn’t made their mind up about where the evidence was leading them”.

• Fleur Britten: I won’t let my 12-year-old have a smartphone until she’s 16

She added: “Unfortunately, it appears that the researcher has now published an article which suggests that she’s already pre-judged the outcome of the research the government has commissioned her to undertake. And that is very disappointing.”

Ben Kingsley, a lawyer at the campaign group UsForThem, said: “The review is hopelessly compromised by this article and Orben’s appointment will now have to be re-tendered if parents, teachers and children are to have any confidence in its conclusions.

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“The appointment of a prominent advocate for children’s continued use of smartphones had already created a perception of pre-determination. The publication of this pre-emptive article while the review is only just kicking off has only reinforced that perception.”

Molly Kingsley, co-founder of the SafeScreens campaign group, said: “Millions of parents are experiencing first hand the corrosive effects of excessive social media and smartphone use on their kids’ lives. Many feel deeply cynical about the need for a two to three-year longitudinal study to confirm or dispute the harms their families are living with daily. But if the Department of Science Innovation and Technology believes a study is necessary it is vital that it’s designed and led by experts with no hint of conflict or bias.”

• How will Australia’s social media ban for children work?

Orben is a respected academic who has advocated for policy decisions to be made on the basis of better evidence and for tech companies to release more data for research. A study she co-wrote in the journal Nature on life satisfaction and social media use in teenagers has been cited by the Australian government during the passage of its ban.

In a letter to the Financial Times she criticised the “simplistic narrative” that smartphones damage teenagers’ mental health as there are other “socio-economic, international, political and lifestyle factors” at play.

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In her university thesis, Orben compared concerns about social media to “moral panics” about radio in the 1940s and video games in the 1990s.

Another study she co-wrote said that eating potatoes had a more negative relationship to wellbeing than screen time.

• Peter Wanless: A smartphone ban would let tech firms off the hook

Victoria Collins, an MP and the Liberal Democrats’ technology spokeswoman, said: “Parents and young people need to trust that this review isn’t just an exercise in kicking the can down the road. The government should move to reassure families that this review isn’t looking for any pre-ordained outcome and will look carefully at all the options on the table.”

Gregor Poynton, a Labour MP who chairs the all-party parliamentary group on children’s online safety, said the BMJ article was “not ideal” but would wait to hear the outcome of the evidence review. He added that despite being supportive of a ban, he agreed with some elements of Orben’s article.

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Andrew Przybylski, professor of human behaviour and technology at the University of Oxford, defended Orben. He said: “Given the misinformation around smartphones and social media these days it’s easy to forget our approach to young people and technologies must have a firm foundation grounded in scientific evidence and human rights. It’s great that Dr Orben is using her platform to stand up for the truth and remind decision makers of the facts.”

Orben said in a statement: “Understanding the digital world’s impact on young people is complex and there are no simple solutions. The report my team is currently leading was commissioned by government to produce recommendations on the types of research which could help generate high-quality evidence, not to provide policy recommendations.

“As an independent researcher my role is to examine and communicate evidence clearly, not advocate specific policies. In the BMJ article we highlighted the benefit of multiple approaches noting technology-free spaces are important but smartphone or social media bans are not a complete solution, as other areas such as digital literacy and platform safety are also important parts of the online safety picture.”
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[1] URL: https://www.thetimes.com/uk/technology-uk/article/academic-accused-of-bias-for-opposing-smartphone-ban-in-schools-g2w705v76
[2] URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

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