Home  >  What in the World  >  Bans on social media and phones - what is the evidence?
What in the World
Bans on social media and phones - what is the evidence?
What in the World
Dec 5, 2024

Phones have become an essential part of most people’s everyday lives, and debates about them in schools - as well as teenagers’ access to social media - are internationally hot topics.

BBC journalist Hayley Clarke joins us in the studio to talk through different approaches to social media and phone bans in schools around the world. We also hear from students in France and the US about how they would feel about potential bans.

Hannah Ritchie, a BBC journalist, explains the situation in Australia, where the government says it will introduce "world-leading" legislation to ban children under 16 from social media.

Plus we hear from two professors on opposing sides of the debate, and ask what is the scientific evidence that shows phones and social media are bad for us?

Instagram: @bbcwhatintheworld WhatsApp: +44 0330 12 33 22 6 Email: [email protected] Presenter: Hannah Gelbart Producers: Julia Ross-Roy, Hayley Clarke and Emilia Jansson Video journalist: Adam Chowdhury Editor: Verity Wilde

More Episodes
Feb 5, 2025
USAID: Can the world live without it?

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is under fire. It is the world’s biggest donor and spends billions of dollars a year, funding programmes around the world, like fighting malaria in Bangladesh, clearing unexploded landmines in Cambodia and Laos and providing medical supplies in Sudan.

But President Trump says it is run by “radical lunatics” and he and billionaire Elon Musk, who’s got the job of trying to slash American government spending, want to shut it down. They have paused almost all international spending for 90 days and issued “stop work” orders to their staff. BBC journalist Nathalia Jimenez tells us what USAID does - and why the Trump administration wants to close it.

A large proportion of USAID funding goes towards healthcare and HIV medication in sub-Saharan Africa. Makuochi Okafor, the BBC’s Africa Health correspondent tells us what impact closing USAID could have in this region.

Anselm Gibbs, a BBC reporter based in Trinidad and Tobago, tells us about programmes USAID funds in the Caribbean. And Hilde Deman from Search for Common Ground, an international NGO that uses USAID funding in countries affected by violent conflict, talks about the impact to their work in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Instagram: @bbcwhatintheworld Email: [email protected] WhatsApp: +44 0330 12 33 22 6 Presenter: William Lee Adams Producers: Benita Barden and Julia Ross-Roy Editor: Rosanna La Falce


13min 08sec




Bans on social media and phones - what is the evidence?

--:--
--:--