UAE debates social media limits for children: What should new rules look like?

As part of the second 2026 meeting of the UAE Media Office, discussions on regulating children’s social media use brought together voices from education, human development, and the Community Development Council. At the centre of the debate was a shared concern: how digital design is shaping children’s attention, behaviour, and mental health.

While policymakers examine potential regulatory frameworks, psychologists and digital safety specialists say the issue goes deeper than screen time alone.

“Children’s brains are still building the neural pathways responsible for sustained attention, impulse control, and executive functioning,” said Sarah Maamari, psychologist for children, adolescents, and families at Sage Clinics. “Excessive exposure to fast-paced social media content can disrupt this process.”

From a developmental perspective, she explained, many platforms are engineered to capture attention within seconds through rapid cuts, high stimulation, novelty, and constant rewards such as likes or endless new videos. Over time, these conditions cause the brain to expect frequent stimulation and quick shifts.

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“That can make slower, effortful tasks like reading, listening in class, or completing homework feel comparatively unrewarding,” she said.

Why kids are vulnerable

In schools, this may appear as increased distractibility, reduced tolerance for boredom, and difficulty sustaining focus. At home, parents often report irritability when devices are removed and frustration when children are asked to transition to offline activities. When the brain adapts to constant digital reward, deep learning becomes harder to sustain.

Maamari also pointed to associations between heavy social media use and anxiety, mood fluctuations, and behavioural challenges. Social media activates the brain’s dopamine-driven reward system, creating short bursts of validation. Repeated reliance on these digital rewards can heighten sensitivity to both praise and disappointment.

Children aged nine to 14 are particularly vulnerable. During this period, identity formation and peer belonging intensify, while the prefrontal cortex, responsible for impulse control and long-term judgment, is still developing. Young adolescents may feel emotions intensely, place great importance on peer approval, yet lack the regulatory skills to step back from negative online interactions.

Frequent notifications and social comparison can also keep the nervous system in a heightened state of alertness, affecting sleep, mood stability, and overall well-being.

What could new rules look like?

As regulators explore possible measures, questions remain about how new rules would work on the ground. Would age verification systems be mandatory? Could structured time limits be introduced to protect school hours and sleep? Or would accountability shift more firmly to the platforms themselves?

Rafal Hyps, Chief Executive Officer of Sicuro Group, argued that meaningful reform must begin with platform responsibility.

“Platforms bear primary responsibility because they design the algorithms and engineer the engagement loops,” he said. “Expecting parents to outmanoeuvre systems built to maximise screen time is not a realistic policy position.”

Hyps explained that AI-driven age estimation technology already exists, allowing a user’s selfie to be analysed to determine whether they are above or below an age threshold. The result is a pass-or-fail confirmation, with the image analysed and discarded rather than stored. In the UAE context, he suggested that age-gating could be integrated through UAE Pass, verifying eligibility without transferring personal data to commercial platforms.

Effective enforcement, he added, would require fines tied to regional revenue, mandatory transparency reporting, and independent technical audits. The Telecommunications and Digital Government Regulatory Authority already has the infrastructure to oversee compliance and, if necessary, restrict platform access if standards are not met.

Teaching online safety

Adding a cybersecurity perspective, Samer El Kodsi, Regional Vice President of Sales – Gulf & North Africa at Palo Alto Networks, said online safety must be viewed as a shared societal responsibility.

“Children today are growing up in a digital world where social media is part of everyday life,” he said. “While regulation and technology play important roles, awareness is the most crucial factor in helping children use social platforms safely.”

He stressed that small habits can significantly reduce risks. Encouraging children to keep personal details private, use strong passwords, enable privacy settings, and think carefully before posting online can help build safer digital behaviours. Parents, he added, can set clear boundaries for internet use, including time limits and approved websites, while using parental controls to monitor activity.

Online safety, El Kodsi noted, is also about resilience. “Not every interaction will be positive,” he said, adding that teaching children to question what they see and recognise scams can help them make smarter decisions. Devices should also be properly configured and protected with antivirus software to prevent malware and hacking.

Challenges remain, including multi-device households, smaller platforms operating outside major oversight frameworks, and the rapid pace of technological evolution. Still, experts note that the UAE’s centralised regulatory structure and national digital identity system offer strong foundations for enforcement.

For families and schools, specialists say any new framework would likely combine clearer age thresholds, structured protections around school and sleep hours, and stronger digital literacy education. Time limits, Maamari noted, are most effective when paired with open conversations, adult modelling, and balanced routines rather than imposed in isolation.

As the policy debate continues, the central issue is becoming clearer: the conversation is no longer just about how long children spend online, but about how digital environments are engineered and whether design itself must change to safeguard attention, learning, and emotional development.