Young Brits are turning away from the internet, with increasing numbers seeing it as damaging to society and their mental health, according to recent research published by Ofcom.
The questions were part of annual research carried out in the summer by YouGov with 7,340 adults of all ages for Ofcom’s Annual Online Nation report, with these somewhat surprising results.
Otcom found that in June 2025, just one third of those aged 18-34 agreed the internet is good for society, down from 42 percent one year earlier. While this fell for older age groups as well, it wasn’t quiet as sharp (34 percent versus 38 percent in 2024), meaning those aged 55 and above are proportionately more positive than younger people about the internet’s impact on us all.
The research also found that more young adults disagreed the internet helps their mental health than agreed, reversing the previous year’s findings. In June 2025, 35 percent of young adults disagreed that being online had a positive overall effect on their emotional wellbeing, while 31 percent agreed. In June 2024, 39 per cent agreed and 28 per cent disagreed.
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Despite all the negativity, young adults in the UK spend significantly more time online than older age groups, averaging six hours and 20 minutes a day on personal (rather than work) devices which is not really a surprise, up ten minutes over the prior 12 months and a great deal higher than the four and a half hours for all adults.
One possible reason is that their online experiences differ significantly from those of older people, including more material chosen by algorithms than actively selected by users.
A section of the Ofcom research on potentially harmful online encounters found younger adults were most likely to have experienced these on social media sites Instagram and then TikTok. Overall, Facebook was the place people were most likely to encounter this type of material, but the likelihood of this increased with age. Among all young adults, 47 percent of potentially harmful encounters came from scrolling a feed, compared with just 26 percent for 55s and over.
Another possible reason could be increasing interest in how the internet can damage young people, even if this tends to focus on those a bit younger than the group in question. This situation is becoming more and more of a focus point.
The Ofcom research took place a few months after the launch of Adolescence in March, an English drama about a teenage murder suspect who was radicalised online, which was Netflix’s most-watched show worldwide in the first half of the year. This particular show was aired shortly before Ofcom started enforcing the UK’s Online Safety Act, which attempts to restrict content for those under 16 years of age.
Ofcom did find that young adults are more likely than older groups to manage their internet use by disabling notifications, using Do Not Disturb settings, pausing use of services, and deleting apps. But this could be because they are more aware of how to use these restrictions more than the older generation.
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Only 20 per cent felt they did not have a good balance between online and offline, compared with 13 percent of all adults. However, the group was less likely than older adults to report or flag potentially harmful content, over half choose not to act, saying they didn’t consider it to be serious or harmful enough.
Summary
The results are somewhat of a surprise as young Brits are always being accused of ‘having their phones stuck to their hands’. It just goes to show social media companies have much to answer for by not controlling available content properly.
Also young Brits are more socially aware and do worry about their mental health more than adults, where as the older generation take less notice of what they see on the internet.
