# Why the World Is Drawing a Line on Social Media for Kids.

1 Opinion February 11, 2026 The Free Press ![bsp_headshot_haidt.jpg](/sites/default/files/styles/246w/public/2025-12/bsp_headshot_haidt.jpg?itok=oCuKOKG3)By Jonathan Haidt

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I just returned from 12 days in Davos, London, and Brussels, where my goal was to encourage political leaders to raise the minimum age to 16 for opening or having social media accounts in their countries. This is the second of my four norms for a healthier childhood, laid out in my book, "The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness." I met with leaders from Indonesia, France, the United Kingdom, and the European Union. Some have already acted decisively (Indonesia and France); the others are likely to do so. And just as I arrived home, Spain and the Netherlands announced that they would raise the age, too.

All of this happened less than two months after Australia enacted the world’s first nationwide age limit, which requires users to be 16 for opening or maintaining social-media accounts, and which puts the responsibility for enforcing the age limit on the platforms themselves.

The tide is turning, but I have been shocked by how quickly it is happening. Social media has been dominating kids’ attention for decades. Now, in the span of just a few weeks, the landscape has been transformed. What happened?

Read the full [*The Free Press* article](https://www.thefp.com/p/jonathan-haidt-a-global-reckoning-on-kids-and-social-media?utm_campaign=email-post&r=jd3ol&utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email).
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*Jonathan Haidt is the Thomas Cooley Professor of Ethical Leadership.*

## More from Jonathan Haidt

- [What the World Should Learn from Australia’s Social Media Law.](https://www.stern.nyu.edu/index%2ephp/experience-stern/faculty-research/opinion/what-world-should-learn-australias-social-media-law)
- [Universities Can’t Pursue Truth Without Viewpoint Diversity.](https://www.stern.nyu.edu/index%2ephp/experience-stern/faculty-research/universities-cant-pursue-truth-without-viewpoint-diversity)
- [What Kids Told Us About How to Get Them Off Their Phones.](https://www.stern.nyu.edu/index%2ephp/experience-stern/faculty-research/what-kids-told-us-about-how-get-them-their-phones)
- [We Don’t Have to Give In to the Smartphones.](https://www.stern.nyu.edu/index%2ephp/experience-stern/faculty-research/we-dont-have-give-smartphones)
- [Gen Z Has Regrets.](https://www.stern.nyu.edu/index%2ephp/experience-stern/faculty-research/gen-z-has-regrets)