Alan Milburn, the former minister leading a government review into youth unemployment, has blamed social media-induced anxiety for driving economic inactivity among young people. In an interview with The Times, Milburn said that the nearly one million young people not in employment, education, or training (Neet) are not “snowflakes” but part of a “bedroom generation” who spend excessive time scrolling on their phones.
Milburn, a former health secretary, warned that young people’s sleep patterns and concentration levels are affected by social media, impacting their ability to work. “People say it’s a soft generation. My view unequivocally is that it isn’t. It is an anxious generation,” he said. His interim report, due next week, is expected to highlight that every one of a group of ten 12- and 13-year-olds engaged in the review reported bedtime between midnight and 3am due to scrolling.
The report will also argue that the welfare state and world of work were designed for a different generation, and that British businesses must adapt to offer “a high level of pastoral care” for young people with mental distress. Milburn added that employers have been on “easy streets” by importing “oven-ready” migrant labour.
Official figures from the Office for National Statistics show that 12.8% of 16- to 24-year-olds in the UK were Neet in October to December 2025, totalling 957,000. A separate report published this week identified social media as a driver of “quitting culture” among young people, with some enjoying the “dopamine hit of a new job” but quickly becoming bored.
MPs and peers recently debated social media harms during the passage of the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act, which gives the government flexible powers to ban under-16s from harmful platforms or introduce curfews and scrolling limits. A public consultation, Growing up in the Online World, is open until Tuesday.
