The British government recently announced a ban on all social media usage for children up to the age of 16. 

But will the ban work? 

Today on Nudge, I explore the psychology of restrictions, bans and friction. 

Warning: this show is restricted to those aged 16 or over. 

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Today’s sources: 

Driscoll, R., Davis, K. E., & Lipetz, M. E. (1972). Parental interference and romantic love: The Romeo and Juliet effect. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 24(1), 1–10.

Freedman, J. L. (1965). Long-term behavioral effects of cognitive dissonance. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 1(2), 145–155.

Mazis, M. B., Settle, R. B., & Leslie, D. C. (1973). Elimination of phosphate detergents and psychological reactance. Journal of Marketing Research, 10(4), 390–395.

Spence, C., & Wang, Q. J. (2017). Assessing the impact of closure type on wine ratings and mood. Beverages, 3(4), 52.

Zellinger, D. A., Fromkin, H. L., Speller, D. E., & Kohn, C. A. (1975). A commodity theory analysis of the effects of age restrictions upon pornographic materials. Journal of Applied Psychology, 60(1), 94–99.

Zhang, K., Allard, T., & Bagchi, R. (2025). The token-effort effect: Trivial redemption effort increases price promotion effectiveness. Journal of Marketing.