Grown-ups around the world have spent the last year desperately trying to get kids to put down their phones. Worries about kids’ screen time are far from new (you could argue that they are nearly a century old), but in recent months, high-profile experts have raised the concern that social media use among young people is not just an annoying time suck but a bona fide public health crisis.

Rather than relying on parents to limit kids’ phone time (which, as many parents can attest, is sometimes easier said than done), a growing number of lawmakers are taking matters into their own hands by passing legislation that seeks to keep kids off social media entirely.

Australia made headlines late last year with its law barring children under 16 from social platforms. The law will require platforms like TikTok and Instagram to take “reasonable steps” to verify that their users are 16 or over, or face up to $32 million in fines (it’s not yet clear exactly which platforms will be subject to the law, but YouTube and WhatsApp are likely to be excluded, according to the New York Times).

Meanwhile, a Florida law scheduled to go into effect this month requires platforms to verify that their users are over 14, and that 14- and 15-year-olds have parental consent. The law, which also does not mention specific social media sites, has been challenged in court.

Similar restrictions are in place or under consideration in Utah, Texas, and elsewhere. They join some voluntary efforts by platforms to restrict kids’ use, like Instagram Teen accounts, as well as increasingly widespread school smartphone bans.

The Australian law was inspired, at least in part, by psychologist Jonathan Haidt’s 2024 book The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness, which argues that smartphones and social media are behind a rise in

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