Evidence

SMARTPHONES: KIDS' MENTAL HEALTH CRISIS

Smartphones and social media have been identified as the biggest contributing factors to poor mental health in children and the major cause of the mental mental epidemic

  • Evidence shows that ages 10-14 is the most dangerous time for children when it comes to social media.
  • Algorithms are designed to push children and teenagers into rabbit holes of toxic & harmful content, features like ‘infinite scroll’ and persistent alerts hook young users.
  • Excessive screen time is known to alter the brain, increase the risk of mental disorders, impair acquisition of memories and learning which are known risk factors for dementia.
  • MRI scans of young children have shown screen time reduces the size of brain areas responsible for visual processing, empathy, attention, memory & early reading skills.
  • Hospital admissions for eating disorders in young girls in the UK has risen sixfold in a decade with the influence of social media being cited as the main factor.
  • Night-time addiction is greatly impacting children’s sleep.
  • 90% of girls and 50% of boys say they have been sent explicit pictures or videos they don’t want to see.
  • Boys as young as 13 have been targeted for sextortion scams.
  • 80% of teenage girls are being put under pressure to provide sexual images of themselves.
  • A recent global study by Global Mind Project, of the first generation of children to be given smartphones, who are now adults found that the younger they got given their first smartphone, the worst their mental health is today.
  • One in three children are now shortsighted. Myopia is predicted to affect 1 billion children around the world by 2050.

"We are continuing to see a worrying rise in the number of children and adolescents presenting to emergency departments across the UK with mental health problems such as anxiety, depression and self harm. As a Consultant in Paediatric Emergency Medicine and a parent myself, I remain extremely worried about the role that smartphones and social media are having on the health and development of our children"

Dr Dan Magnus Consultant in Paediatric Emergency Medicine

"Mental health difficulties amongst young people are sadly on the increase and we need to do all we can to support and protect them. One of the important issues we need to consider and address is access to harmful online content via social media and smartphones."

Dr Jon Goldin Consultant Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist.

SOURCES

Not all screen time is created equal: associations with mental health vary by activity and gender,
Twenge & Eric Farley, August 2020 – Cecilia Kang & Natasha Singer
NY Times: Meta Accused by States of Using Features to Lure Children to Instagram and Facebook, April 2019
JAMA: Association Between Portable Screen-Based Media Device Access or Use and Sleep Outcomes, 2016
IMR Press, National Library of Medicine Digital dementia in the internet generation: excessive screen…, January 2022
Screen Usage Linked to Differences in Brain Structure in Young Children, November 2022
Young People, Pornography and Age Verification, British Board of Film Classification, March 2022
Review of sexual abuse in schools…/ Ofsted Report, June 2021
Boys Targeted in Sextortion Scams, Police Scotland Report, 2023
Parent Like a Tech Exec, Brooke Shannon & Dr. Richard Freed, April 2019
NHS data