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Adolescence Creator ‘Went Very, Very Deep’ in the Manosphere. Its Appeal Scared Him

Jack Thorne, who cowrote the hit Netflix show about a 13-year-old accused of murder, told WIRED he understands how easily kids can get lured into incel ideology.

In February, the Lancet’s journal for European health policy published a study by the UK’s University of Birmingham that found that there’s no evidence supporting the idea that restrictive phone policies in schools are associated with “better mental well-being in adolescents.” However, the study found that more time spent on smartphones and using social media was tied to worse mental health outcomes, noting that school bans alone may not reduce kids’ overall time spent online. Counter-extremism expert Milo Comerford, director of policy and research at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD), says laws that hold platforms to account for their algorithms and the content they promote to children would likely be more effective than attempting wholesale bans. Both the UK and the European Union have also passed laws aimed at cracking down on the promotion of content that could be harmful to kids, including posts about suicide, eating disorders, and child sexual abuse material.

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