Children who start using social media at a younger age are up to six months behind at school by their GCSE years, a new study suggests. 'In the short term, policies that delay social media access until children are cognitively mature enough to manage its potential distractions could be beneficial.' It comes as the UK government has announced plans to ban social media for under–16s in the spring of next year. Other factors – such as family circumstances, parental support, socio–economic background or personality – could potentially contribute to both earlier social media use and lower academic performance. As part of the new measures, their access to popular social media will be switched off from midnight to 6am every night.