Four thousand students from Bradford secondary schools are now enrolled in a trial testing whether limiting social media use actually works in practice, with results intended to feed directly into how a government ban on social media for under-16s is implemented by spring 2027. The policy was announced in May, but the practical details of how it will operate remain unresolved. The trial is positioned as the delivery mechanism for the evidence needed to make it function.
The study, known as the IRL (In Real Life) trial, is run by researchers at Born in Bradford, who believe it is the first major scientific study into the impact of limiting social media on young people’s mental health. Its rollout has followed a staged approach. In preliminary stages, 200 students aged 12 to 15 were asked to limit their social media use. The research team has since scaled up, recruiting the current cohort of thousands.
Dr John Pickavance, the trial’s manager, framed the work as building the evidence base that policy makers will need to put the ban into effect. “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. “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.” He said the study would create “rigorous scientific” evidence for future policy making.
Operationally, the trial works through a simple split. Some students will use a smartphone app that limits their social media use, while others will carry on as normal, without any limitations. At the start and end of the six-week period, participants will fill in short questionnaires about how they are feeling, covering things like anxiety, sleep, body image and school life. Those questionnaires are the trial’s main measurement tool, and the six-week window is the timeline on which its findings will rest.
Meanwhile, at Appleton Academy in Wyke, one of the schools where many students have been recruited, the trial is already part of daily school life. Hannah, 12, Blossom, 13, and Louis, 12, said they would miss communicating with friends on social media. “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. Louis added: “I think it will be hard for the first two weeks but over time we should get used to it.”
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. “It’s really important we allow them to have that voice,” she said. “They rely on social media such a lot for all their communication with each other.”
Among the participants themselves, the trial is being treated as a practical exercise in changing habits. Dawson, 12, one of the students taking part, said he spent about two hours a day on social media and was looking forward to spending less time on his smartphone. “I think it will make stronger relationships because I won’t be on my phone as much,” he said. “I feel like I spend too much on it and I don’t think I focus on the things I should.”
His dad, Adam, said he hoped the trial would allow him to spend more time with his son. “I might see more of him downstairs, that would be a good start,” he said. “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.”
The gap the trial is meant to close is a concrete one: a ban has been announced with a deadline of spring 2027, but the mechanics of putting it in place are still undefined. The full details of the trial and its context can be found at https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cqgm0yy8dnkro. Whether the six-week questionnaires produce evidence robust enough to guide that implementation will determine how useful the study proves to be for the officials who must turn the announcement into a working policy.