Faith in the internet is fading among young Brits

Ofcom's latest Online Nation research finds UK young adults (18–34) are becoming more negative about the internet's effects on society and mental health even as they average 6 hours and 20 minutes of daily personal use; they encounter more potentially harmful content driven by algorithmic feeds on platforms like Instagram and TikTok, tend to manage use with features such as Do Not Disturb and app deletion, but are less likely to report harmful material; the findings are contextualized by cultural attention to online harms and the UK's Online Safety Act aimed at restricting harmful content for under-16s.