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Children are increasingly taking breaks from their smartphones to better manage their mental health, personal safety and concentration spans, research has revealed.

They are reacting to growing concerns that spending too much time online can be harmful by taking control of their own social media and smartphone use rather than relying on parents to enforce limits, according to experts.

The number of 12- to 15-year-olds who take breaks from smartphones, computers and iPads rose by 18% to 40% since 2022, according to the audience research company GWI, drawing on a survey of 20,000 young people and their parents across 18 countries.

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WARNING. GRAPHIC CONTENT.

A Virginia youth pastor posed as a teenager to groom underage girls on social media apps – exchanging appalling messages while luring them into sex chats.

The 34-year-old, known to his church as ‘Pastor Jake’ is now behind bars, accused of posing as a boy to coax sexually explicit photos and videos from the girls.

At one point the perv pastor told an underage girl that it was ‘time for her to see her first d***.’

Jacob Ryan Barnett, Associate Pastor at Catawba Valley Baptist Church, was arrested on Wednesday in North Carolinafollowing a months-long FBI investigation that uncovered a disturbing digital trail of exploitation and manipulation.

According to a federal affidavit, Barnett used TikTok, Snapchat, and Discord to pose as a 17-year-old named ‘Jodie Johnson,’ messaging teen girls across the country and pressuring them into sending him explicit material.

The videos included footage they had recorded of themselves at the ages of 14 and 15.

One of the victims, identified in court documents as ‘M.V.,’ told investigators she believed she really was communicating with a teenage boy from Virginia.

But in reality, the number belonged to Barnett – a father, a pastor, and a man who just 11 days ago delivered a sermon titled ‘The Story of Salvation.’

‘While the charges against Mr. Barnett are just allegations at this point, the facts presented do serve as a reminder for all parents to be aware of what their children are doing online,’ said U.S. Attorney C. Todd Gilbert.

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Discover how teens get trapped. 

NEED TO KNOW

• A federal judge denied Sean “Diddy” Combs’ bail for a fifth time

• He was denied bail on account of being a risk of “flight or danger”

• Combs will be sentenced on his conviction of transportation to engage in prostitution on Oct. 3

A federal judge denied Sean “Diddy” Combs’ bail in a new ruling on Monday, Aug. 4.

This marks the fifth time that Combs, 55, has been denied release from the Brooklyn Metropolitan Detention Center, where he has been held since his September 2024 arrest.

In court documents obtained by PEOPLE, Judge Arun Subramanian wrote that the court must “Find by clear and convincing evidence that the person is not likely to flee or pose a danger to the safety of any other person or the community if released,” and that Combs posed a risk of “flight or danger.”

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Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 379 into law last Wednesday, ending a battle that divided Democrats first in the Assembly, and then in the state Senate. The law, which goes into effect Jan. 1, 2026, gives prosecutors new tools to crack down on people they believe are soliciting sex from minors or loitering with the intent to purchase sex.

Under the new law, adults who attempt to purchase sex with someone who is 16 or 17 years old will be charged with a felony, unless the defendant is within three years of the victim’s age. The law also reestablishes the crime of loitering with the intent to purchase sex, which the California Legislature struck from the books in 2022.

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