Lauren Cowell has opened up to the Daily Mirror in a wide-ranging interview about joining the Raise the Age campaign which wants to introduce a minimum age of 16 to be able to access social media
20:03, 13 Apr 2026Updated 22:26, 13 Apr 2026
Lauren Cowell with her friend Ellen Roome as they fight for a change in the law (Image: laurenmichellecowell/Instagram)
Like many mums on the school run, Lauren Cowell would often hand over her phone while driving to let her 12-year-old son Eric pick the songs. “He would always take my phone to put music on in the car, and obviously, I’m driving so I can’t look at what he’s doing,” Lauren says.
Eventually she realised why he was so fixated on her phone in the back seat: he’d downloaded Snapchat, a social media app. “I knew nothing about it, and how it actually worked,” she says. “But the more I started to understand about it, the more it really freaked me out.”
For Lauren, the moment wasn’t just about one app, but tapped into a much deeper concern that her and Simon had been grappling with for years as parents. The BGT judge has been phone-free for eight years – a move which he credits for transforming his life for the better after being close to burn-out.
It’s little wonder that the issue of Eric having a phone or not played on both their minds. “Social media has been something that has been a nagging fear for both me and Simon for a long time,” she says. “It’s why we held off before giving Eric a phone.” However the discovery on the school run that morning became the spark for something much bigger. Fast forward a few months, and Lauren has been passionately campaigning to raise the minimum age of children accessing social media to 16 years old.
She has joined the Raise the Age campaign alongside dozens of bereaved families who are calling for a new law similar to the one implemented in Australia in December. Wednesday marks a key vote in the House of Commons and it’s why she is giving her first ever interview to raise awareness. “This really shouldn’t even be a political discussion…it should absolutely be a discussion of what is in the best interest and the safety and protection of children, full stop,” she says. “I would say this directly to members of parliament and to Keir Starmer, I’d like to urge him as a father to do the right thing.”
Eric Cowell with his social-media free phone
Lauren at the House of Lords with bereaved families
Her involvement in the campaign began when she heard the heartbreaking story of bereaved mother Ellen Roome, who believes her 14-year-old son Jools Sweeney died in an online challenge gone wrong in 2022. Ellen is fighting to obtain data from TikTok which she hopes could provide an explanation as to what happened. “I reached out to her, and we became close very quickly,” she says.
“Simon and I invited her over to talk, and we were so moved by her story, I just asked what could I do to help. We were so shocked at what she was having to go through.” Lauren says meeting Ellen – and other parents who have lost children – changed the way she saw the issue entirely.
“It stopped being a what if or a hypothetical,” she says. “You’re no longer imagining what could happen. You’re hearing from parents whose lives have been completely torn apart, not just one family, but dozens,” she says. “To sit with parents who have lost their children and to know that this is something that we do have the power to help change…it could be any one of our children. It could be mine, it could be yours.”
Understandably, the stories have been difficult to process. “As a mother, you can’t possibly imagine losing a child, it’s literally every parent’s worst nightmare,” she adds. Lauren, who attended a debate at the House of Lords last month, believes parents are currently being left to deal with an impossible situation. And she knows from experience that she is not alone after talking to mums, dads and teachers at Erics’ school.
“I was already on countless group chats where the same concerns kept coming up again and again,” she says. “Teachers were also talking about changes in the kids’ behaviours at school, dwindling attention, confidence issues, and the general consensus was admitting that we all felt out of control and didn’t fully understand what our kids were being exposed to.”
Learning about the addictive nature of the apps in particular has been an eye-opener, and she has been following with interest two landmark US court cases in LA and New Mexico which found Meta and YouTube liable for exposing kids to harmful content
“These platforms are designed to keep children engaged for as long as possible,” she says. “And very quickly, what starts out as something innocent can escalate into something far more harmful.” Back at home, she and Simon continue to navigate those challenges as best they can. “We’ve gotten Eric a phone, but there is no social media on it. He’s not allowed on any apps, on any social media. He doesn’t have Snapchat. I’ve now removed everything, so he literally can text and WhatsApp his friends.”
It has meant taking an unusually hands-on approach. “I am now on every one of his group chats. I’m kind of the silent person in the background, but I’m on all the group chats so I can monitor what’s going on at all time.”
She says Eric himself is non-plussed by the lack of social media. For him, the main thing was being able to communicate with his friends…which he can still do. “I would rather him be a little bit annoyed, or a little bit stroppy with me, than God forbid, take the risk of having the ultimate consequence that we know it could be,” she says. “But he himself even said to me, ‘Mum, I don’t want social media. I really, really don’t want it.’”
Despite her best endeavours, Lauren is clear about the limits of what any parent can realistically control. “You can be engaged. You can care deeply. You can do everything you believe is right and still not fully know or be able to control what your child is being exposed to.” And she is fully aware that any potential move to raise the age to 16 is not “foolproof” but says we need to start somewhere.
It comes as age limits are in place for other things such as alcohol, driving, and gambling. “There will always be ways for children to get around the restriction. But that doesn’t mean that we do nothing. We have age limits for many things not because they are fool proof, but because they set a standard and significantly reduce harm. And that is what this is about.”
Talking to Lauren, you can’t help but be impressed with her campaigning zeal, and her desire to make a difference. She understands that technology is here to stay but insists that it doesn’t mean it can’t be supervised for children.
For Ellen Roome, she has appreciated the support from her friend. “I went over to see Simon and Lauren, and she was so passionate about it that she just said ‘what can I do?’ and how can we raise the age, “ she says. “She wants to protect her son as much as all these other children that are being harmed on social media.” And ahead of Wednesday’s vote, Ellen adds: “How many more children have to suffer or potentially die like my son.”
For more information about the Raise the Age campaign, visit https://raisetheage.org.uk
