As regulations are considered, experts emphasize that platform design and accountability should be at the heart of safeguarding young users.
During the second 2026 meeting of the UAE Media Office, discussions on regulating children’s social media use brought together experts from education, human development, and the Community Development Council. At the heart of the debate was a shared concern: how digital design influences children’s attention, behavior, and mental health.
While policymakers explore potential regulatory frameworks, psychologists and digital safety specialists stress that the issue extends beyond screen time alone.
“Children’s brains are still developing 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 interfere with this process.”
She explained that many platforms are deliberately designed to capture attention within seconds, using rapid cuts, high stimulation, novelty, and constant rewards such as likes or endless new videos. Over time, this environment trains the brain to expect frequent stimulation and rapid shifts.
“This can make slower, more effortful activities—like reading, paying attention in class, or doing homework—feel far less rewarding,” she said.
In schools, this can show up 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 rewards, sustaining deep learning becomes more challenging.
Maamari also highlighted links between heavy social media use and anxiety, mood swings, and behavioral challenges. Social media activates the brain’s dopamine-driven reward system, producing 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 stage, identity formation and the need for peer belonging intensify, while the prefrontal cortex—which governs impulse control and long-term judgment—is still developing. Young adolescents may feel emotions intensely, prioritize peer approval, and yet lack the regulatory skills to step back from negative online interactions.
Frequent notifications and constant social comparison can 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 function in practice. Would age verification systems be mandatory? Could structured time limits protect school hours and sleep? Or should accountability rest more squarely with the platforms themselves?
Rafal Hyps, Chief Executive Officer of Sicuro Group, argued that meaningful reform must start with platform responsibility.
“Platforms bear primary responsibility because they design the algorithms and engineer the engagement loops,” he said. “Expecting parents to outmaneuver systems built to maximize screen time is not a realistic policy position.”
Hyps noted that AI-driven age estimation technology already exists, analyzing a user’s selfie to determine whether they are above or below a certain age threshold. The process provides a simple pass-or-fail confirmation, with images analyzed and discarded rather than stored. In the UAE, he suggested, age-gating could be integrated through UAE Pass, verifying eligibility without transferring personal data to commercial platforms.
Effective enforcement, he added, would require fines linked 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 when 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, emphasized that online safety is 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 are important, awareness is the most crucial factor in helping children navigate social platforms safely.”
He highlighted 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 can help build safer digital behaviors. Parents, he added, can set clear boundaries for internet use—including time limits and approved websites—while leveraging parental controls to monitor activity.
Online safety, El Kodsi noted, also requires resilience. “Not every interaction will be positive,” he said, adding that teaching children to question what they see and recognize scams can help them make smarter decisions. Devices should also be properly configured and protected with antivirus software to guard against malware and hacking.
Challenges remain, including multi-device households, smaller platforms operating outside major oversight frameworks, and the rapid pace of technological change. Still, experts say the UAE’s centralized regulatory structure and national digital identity system provide a strong foundation for enforcement.
For families and schools, specialists suggest 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 modeling, and balanced routines, rather than imposed in isolation.
As the policy debate continues, one point is becoming clear: the discussion is no longer just about how long children spend online, but about how digital environments are designed—and whether that design itself must evolve to safeguard attention, learning, and emotional development.
