The World Cup is a powerful antidote to young people's online isolation, writes Olympic champion Chris Boardman

Will young people find ways around it? Will it make any difference?

These are important questions. But the ban isn't the goal: better childhoods are. So what’s next? If the average teenager spends four to five hours a day on social media, removing even some of that creates a huge amount of time to fill. What should it be filled with?

England’s fantastic first World Cup match was a striking reminder that sport is a powerful antidote to the isolation and disconnection that many young people have felt as a result of too much time online.

Nothing unites us quite like sport. It is deeply human to connect and express a range of emotions - joy, despair, exasperation or inspiration - through watching it and taking part in it. All children and young people deserve that experience.

Banning social media is a means to an end. But if the ban is not just about taking something away but about giving something better back, the work now is to improve young people's mental, physical, and social health by providing opportunities to thrive.

Sport and physical activity provide many of the outcomes that we want the social media ban to achieve. Friendships are forged through five-a-side football or cheering a team on. Confidence and achievement are created through learning new skills, like cycling or swimming. Independence is instilled by walking to school and a sense of belonging is gained through teamwork. Physical and mental health are boosted through movement; real resilience is built.

But these benefits don't happen automatically because social media is taken away. What we need are the places and opportunities to facilitate them for young people.

Fortunately, Britain already has much of the infrastructure to do so. Across the country, there are tens of thousands of sports clubs, community groups and activity organisations, supported by millions of volunteers who give their time every week. Estimates suggest there are well over 150,000 sports clubs in England alone: vital places for our children and teenagers to play, learn and grow.

Every evening and weekend, football clubs, dance groups, cycling clubs, martial arts sessions, swimming lessons, athletics clubs, parkruns and countless other activities bring people together. Recent figures show more than 30 million adults are already regularly active, generating £123 billion of social value a year through better health, stronger communities and greater productivity.

Those are not just sporting outcomes; they're essential for national health, wealth and happiness - which is why the social media ban should not end with restrictions - it should begin with opportunity.

And the opportunity is clear: if we want young people to spend less time scrolling, we need to make it easier for them to spend more time doing. More walking, more cycling, more sport, more adventure, more meeting friends face-to-face, and discovering what they're capable of.

The challenge now is not deciding whether social media is harmful; it's creating attractive alternatives. Do young people have somewhere safe to cycle? Can they walk independently to school or local facilities? Are sports clubs affordable? Are parks welcoming? Do we have enough coaches, volunteers and youth leaders? And are we recognising these people as more than community sport organisers - but architects of our social future, helping to shape the next generation?

Those are the questions that matter now, and we need to start answering them quickly.

The social media ban may create an opportunity, but what is put in its place will determine its success. Its impact shouldn't be measured by how many accounts are closed; it should be measured by whether young people are healthier, happier, and more connected than they were before.

And as the World Cup progresses- and especially if England brings it home – it’s clear that sport has a vital part to play in enriching young people’s lives. The prize is not fewer hours online, but fuller lives offline.

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Chris Boardman is the Chairman of Sport England, an Olympic gold medallist and world champion cyclist, as well as a leading advocate for active travel & making sport and physical activity accessible to all.

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