New Research Shows What Will

Governments are racing to keep teens off their phones. The PACEs research says they are only solving part of the problem. Here is what you can do now, according to the research.

This month, Australia’s government said it plans to take Meta, TikTok, Snapchat, and YouTube to federal court. The charge? Failing to enforce the country’s ban on social media for kids under 16. That ban took effect last December. Yet the national online safety regulator found that most underage users either kept their old accounts or simply made new ones. (Kids are amazingly resourceful!)

Australia isn’t alone. Britain plans its own ban for kids under 16. Canada has a bill that would set the same age limit. In mid October, a federal appeals court let Florida keep enforcing its 2024 law that limits teen accounts on apps with addictive features like infinite scrolling. Days later, Florida’s attorney general proposed a new law that would block teens from social media between 11 p.m. and 7 a.m. Here at home, a Pew Research Center survey from July found that nearly 6 in 10 American adults support banning social media for anyone under 16.

These laws may be needed but share a blind spot. They take a potentially bad influence away and say little about what kids need in its place. A newer body of childhood research points right at that gap.

What PACEs Research Tells Us

For decades, child health experts studied ACEs, or Adverse Childhood Experiences. These include abuse, neglect, divorce, and a parent with addiction. The more ACEs a child has, the researchers concluded, the higher the risk of poor physical and mental health as an adult.

But some kids with many ACEs grew into healthy adults, while others with almost none struggled. Why?

The answer turns out to be PACEs, or Positive and Compensatory Childhood Experiences. These are safe, stable, nurturing relationships and supports before age 18: A caring adult outside the family. A sense of belonging at school. Friends who stand by you. A family (or other caring adults) that talk about feelings.

In a well known 2019 study in JAMA Pediatrics, Johns Hopkins researcher Christina Bethell looked at survey data from adults in Wisconsin. Adults who recalled six or seven positive childhood experiences had 72 percent lower odds of depression or poor mental health than those who recalled two or fewer. Even three to five positive experiences cut those odds in half. The benefit held up no matter how much adversity people had faced.

Bethell’s team also found that adults with low adversity still had worse mental health if they lacked positive experiences. In other words, removing the bad is not the same as adding the good.

Why Bans Alone Fall Short

A social media ban works like the old ACEs approach. It removes one risk. That may help. But if a 14 year old with weak school and community support is cut off from TikTok and goes home to an empty house, no friends, and no caring adults, the ban hasn’t given that child a healthy life to build on.

Early school phone bans show the same pattern. A Brookings survey of teens released in September found that even at schools with strict phone rules, most teens reported no change in their happiness, stress, or relationships with teachers. Taking the phone away did not fill the space it left.

Teens often turn to screens for connection and belonging. If they find those in real life, the pull of the phone gets weaker.

What Parents and Communities Can Do

You don’t need to wait for a law. Here is what the research supports:

• Be the adult kids can talk to. Ask about their day and listen more than you lecture. Even a smile and a regular greeting, especially using a name, can make a big impact on a child’s day.
• Find them one more caring adult. A coach, teacher, neighbor, pastor, or mentor counts.
• Help them belong. Clubs, sports, youth groups, volunteering, community organizations and after school programs give teens a place where they matter.
• Make home predictable. Routines and clear rules build a sense of safety. Schools can also help provide this the “safe, predictable environment” PACE.
• Fill the hours, not just the gaps. If you limit screen time, plan what replaces it. A walk, a game, a project, watching a movie, or a meal together.

The Bigger Lesson

Lawmakers can keep fighting tech giants in court. But no judge can order a child to feel loved, safe, or connected. That part is up to us.

The best protection against the harms of social media may not be a ban at all. It may be a childhood so full of good relationships that the screen simply matters less.

Sources

Australia to Sue Meta and TikTok for Failing to Enforce Under 16s Social Media Ban, PetaPixel, Oct. 21, 2026

Appeals court lifts block on Florida law restricting social media access for teens, Florida Phoenix, Oct. 14, 2026

Florida proposal would impose overnight social media ban, time limits for teens, CBS Miami

Majority of Americans support banning social media for kids under 16, Pew Research Center, July 1, 2026

Bethell C, et al. Positive Childhood Experiences and Adult Mental and Relational Health in a Statewide Sample, JAMA Pediatrics, 2019 (summary)

A year later, what teens tell us about school cellphone bans, Brookings Institution, Sept. 2026

Current uses and contributions of the PACEs measure: A scoping review, Trauma Care, 2024