What do young people do without the doomscroll? Why social media bans present an opportunity

The United Kingdom is set to enact bans on social media for under 16s by spring 2027, with further restrictions for 16 and 17 year olds under consideration. It will also likely affect how adults use social platforms as age verification measures and algorithmic adjustments take place. For example, new rules will likely force platforms to promote public service content like the BBC to combat disinformation, per The Telegraph. 

All this speaks to a big shift in the regulatory landscape surrounding social, kicked off by the Australia ban for under-16s in 2025. 

Will the UK's social media ban work? 

Despite Australia’s social media bans, data published by the eSafety Commissioner shows that seven in ten children who used social media before are still using it now. While a reduction in use, that isn’t the major shift that was perhaps expected, as young people have proven savvy in finding ways around the ban. 

It is likely that the UK will face similar compliance challenges. The most likely outcome is not that the young people currently using social media will leave in droves, but that many of their younger peers who haven’t joined social platforms yet just never will. 

Perhaps the biggest understated challenge facing the bans’ efficacy is the lack of alternative activities. One young person interviewed by BBC said she plans to use her new free time to “stare at the wall”, for example, perceiving little else to do. 

Social platforms, especially YouTube, have become so ingrained that young people simply do not know what offline alternatives could look like. “Third spaces”, especially for young people, have been declining as focus has shifted to building out digital real estate. It is not just children who will need to figure out what to do when they aren’t scrolling TikTok, either. It is everyone around them – from entertainment companies, to school programmes, parents, and neighbours who need to get used to outdoor ball games again – that must readjust as well. 

The post-social winners

Games will be a natural beneficiary of the ban, as young people can still turn to them for socialising and entertainment without learning new habits. AI will also benefit, as users simply open a different app to learn and ‘socialise’ by talking to the AI itself (13% of 16–19-year-olds mainly use AI for companionship or conversation, according to MIDiA’s Q3 2025 consumer survey). With Meta and X both leaning into AI as a separate business revenue stream, the parent companies may be less badly affected than Snapchat, for example, which has a very young user base and a single-purpose, social-first offering. 

However, there is a bigger opportunity here to be built out. 

Third spaces are in decline, which means supply is constricting while demand is now poised to boom. Building fandom and brand loyalty requires context, depth, authenticity, and meaning. The contextlessness of the social media feed has limited the ability to relationship-build with audiences, even if it has boosted ‘discovery’. Events and lived experiences do this automatically. 

As nostalgia becomes a go-to promotional tool across industries, it’s worth taking a step back to appreciate why. Vans and Monster Energy carry with them the visceral memory of being an edgy teenager in a black hoodie in the middle of summer, lurking with friends at a festival. Songs played on MTV in the 2000s still do well because we remember sitting down in front of the TV every evening trying to catch the latest hits to message friends on AOL about after. Saturday morning cartoons were accompanied by a rare morning free from school and, maybe, waffles.

A short-form video is just a short-form video. There’s nothing to connect it to or feel nostalgic – or anything much at all – about, without concentrated work done elsewhere to ground it in something fundamentally cultural. 

A social media ban for under-16s is an opportunity to begin offering these real connection points to young people who will have the free time to engage with them again. And with fandom the critical driver of long-term success, this ban is one of the biggest opportunities marketers have had in years.