Sir Keir Starmer’s decision to ban social media platforms from offering services to under-16s is one of the boldest interventions in childhood and adolescence that we have seen from any UK government in recent years.

On balance, I support it.

That may surprise some people.

I have spent much of my professional life championing young people’s voices. I am instinctively cautious whenever adults decide what young people can and cannot do. Yet there comes a point when evidence, experience and common sense align.

Too many young people are spending too much of their lives online.

Too many are trapped in a cycle of endless scrolling, comparison, outrage and anxiety. Too many are going to bed with their phones and waking up to them. Too many are measuring their worth through likes, follows and algorithms designed not for their wellbeing but for their attention.

Of course, social media has brought benefits. It has connected communities, enabled creativity and allowed many young people – particularly those who feel isolated or different – to find support and belonging.

But there is a growing sense among parents, teachers, youth workers and many young people themselves that something is out of balance.

This should not be viewed as a battle between generations, nor as an attempt to turn back the clock. Young people have every right to inhabit the digital world. The question is whether the digital world has become too dominant in their lives, crowding out the experiences that help them develop confidence, character and resilience.

This intervention is, at heart, an attempt to reset that balance.

Yet supporting the ban is the easy part.

The harder question is what happens next.

If we remove TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat and their successors from the daily lives of millions of teenagers, what fills the gap?

Because there will be a gap.

A very large one.

Some young people currently spend several hours each day on social media. Those hours will not magically transform themselves into richer lives simply because an app has disappeared.

Nature abhors a vacuum.

If we are serious about giving young people their childhoods back, we must also give them somewhere to spend them.

That means investing in the spaces and opportunities that help young people grow.

Youth clubs.

Scouting and Guiding.

Cadet forces.

Sports clubs.

Music, drama and the arts.

Volunteering.

Outdoor education.

Faith groups.

Community projects.

Libraries.

The countless local organisations that quietly help young people build confidence, resilience, friendships and purpose.

For decades, these forms of non-formal and informal learning have been producing outcomes that no algorithm can replicate. They teach leadership, teamwork, empathy, responsibility and citizenship. They create belonging. They place trusted adults alongside young people. They allow children to discover talents and passions that may never emerge through a screen.

The tragedy is that many of these organisations have spent years fighting for survival while the digital world has expanded relentlessly around them.

If government is prepared to be bold enough to restrict social media, it should be equally bold in strengthening the alternatives.

Because a social media ban, on its own, is not a youth policy.

It is a protective measure.

The real prize is not simply reducing harm. It is increasing opportunity.

As Deputy Lieutenant for Oxfordshire with responsibility for youth engagement, and after more than four decades working alongside young people in schools, charities and youth organisations, I see both the opportunities and the challenges facing the next generation. What strikes me repeatedly is not that young people want less connection. They want more meaningful connection. They want places where they belong. They want trusted adults who care. They want purpose, challenge and friendship.

In short, they want community.

And community is something no app has ever truly been able to provide.

If this legislation succeeds, it will not be because millions of young people spend less time on TikTok.

It will be because millions of young people spend more time doing something better.

That is the challenge now facing government, local authorities, charities, schools, youth organisations and communities across the country.

Giving children their childhood back is a worthy ambition.

The next task is making sure there is a childhood waiting for them.