{"id":2191285,"date":"2026-10-12T04:52:17","date_gmt":"2026-10-12T01:52:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2191285"},"modified":"2026-10-12T04:52:17","modified_gmt":"2026-10-12T01:52:17","slug":"bradford-children-cut-down-on-social-media-screen-time-for-trial","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2191285","title":{"rendered":"Bradford children cut down on social media screen time for trial"},"content":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/1024\/branded_news\/5685\/live\/865a2110-c3fa-11f1-9a39-31b474234113.jpg”]<\/p>\n

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\"AmyAmy Garcia\/BBC<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Blossom and Louis are among the pupils taking part<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Thousands of teenagers have joined a trial to limit their time on social media as part of a major study.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Researchers at Born in Bradford believe the IRL (In Real Life) trial is the first major scientific study into the impact of limiting social media on young people’s mental health.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Results from the study will help inform how the government implements a social media ban for under-16s that was announced in May and would be introduced by spring 2027.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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During preliminary stages, 200 students aged 12-15 were asked to limit social media use, but now the research team has recruited 4,000 students from Bradford secondary schools.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Dawson, 12, is one of the students taking part. He said he spent about two hours a day on social media and was looking forward to spending less time on his smartphone.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“I think it will make stronger relationships because I won’t be on my phone as much,” he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“I feel like I spend too much on it and I don’t think I focus on the things I should.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\"AmyAmy Garcia\/BBC<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Dawson said he was hoping to ‘make stronger relationships’<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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His dad, Adam, said he hoped the trial would allow him to spend more time with his son.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“I might see more of him downstairs, that would be a good start.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“If he’s not always on his phone, he can be out seeing his friends more. It will be a challenge, but I hope he’ll get there.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\"AmyAmy Garcia\/BBC<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Dad Adam hopes the trial will help his son get out more<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Some students will use a smartphone app that limits their social media use, while others will carry on as normal, without any limitations.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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At the start and end of the six-week period, participants will be asked to fill in short questionnaires about how they are feeling – covering things like anxiety, sleep, body image and school life.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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At Appleton Academy in Wyke, where many of the students have been recruited, Hannah, 12, Blossom, 13, and Louis, 12, said they would miss communicating with friends on social media.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“A lot of people spend a lot of time on social media and they have friends there so it would be sad if screen time was only two hours,” said Hannah.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“I think it will be hard for the first two weeks but over time we should get used to it,” added Louis.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Rachel Garlick, Head of Secondary at Appleton Academy, said it was important to get the children’s opinions on the impact a ban might have for them.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“It’s really important we allow them to have that voice,” she said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“They rely on social media such a lot for all their communication with each other.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\"AmyAmy Garcia\/BBC<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Dr John Pickavance is managing the trial for Born in Bradford<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Dr John Pickavance, trial manager, said the study would create “rigorous scientific” evidence for future policy making.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“The government has made that decision but we don’t have any details yet and we don’t know how it’s going to be implemented,” he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“We want there to be the best evidence available to any policy makers, now or in the future, so these decisions are being made in the young people’s best interests.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Listen to highlights from <\/i>West Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest <\/i>episode of Look North<\/i>.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n

[analyse_source url=”https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/cqgm0yy8dnkro”]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/1024\/branded_news\/5685\/live\/865a2110-c3fa-11f1-9a39-31b474234113.jpg”] Amy Garcia\/BBC Blossom and Louis are among the pupils taking part Thousands of teenagers have joined a trial to limit their time on social media as part of a major study. Researchers at Born in Bradford believe the IRL (In Real Life) trial is the first major scientific study into the impact […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[35,226],"class_list":["post-2191285","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-bbc-com","tag-crawlmanager"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2191285","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2191285"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2191285\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2191285"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2191285"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2191285"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}