Summer 2026 in the digital world

Things are moving fast as changes to how we access the online world continue to shift.

Today the UK Government announced that those aged under 16 will no longer be able to access a variety of platforms.

In practice this means that every adult wishing to access services they were previously free to do will need to provide proof of age to the platforms in order to access them.

For many this will involve handing over legal ID, others submitting to digital facial biometric scans, others a combination.

• Will this reduced the number of young people accessing services? Yes.
  
• Will young people find other ways to connect? Also Yes.

As for adults, many people are fine with handing over personal information as they find convenience outweighs the risks. For others, who prefer more privacy this means they will no longer use a lot of the services.

What is true, as it has been for all of human history, is that people are social creatures and  will always find a way to connect.

Like water humans find the path of least resistance and collect together, increase the pressure elsewhere and they will build communities in the most unexpected of places.

Humans are far more complicated than even the most complex social graphing tools can model. Second and third order effects of blunt control tools can't be predicted, even if they look obvious in hindsight.

We'll be watching to see how this new digital world pans out.