UK medical bodies call social media a child health risk

Senior British medical experts have declared that social media poses a danger to children comparable to smoking, urging immediate government action to curb the harms of excessive screen time. The Academy of Medical Royal Colleges, representing the UK and Ireland's 23 royal medical colleges and faculties, detailed these concerns in a submission to a government consultation on protecting children online, which concluded on Tuesday.

The academy stated that the impact of unfettered exposure to technology and devices has united clinicians resoundingly. A survey of doctors conducted by the academy found that half treated at least one child per week whose mental distress or physical injury was directly linked to online content. Reported harms range from physical injuries caused by replicating acts seen in extreme explicit content to mental health trauma from exposure to online violence.

In response, the British government is consulting on a range of potential restrictions, including a possible ban on social media for children under 16, app curfews, time limits, and curbs on addictive design features. Technology Secretary Liz Kendall stated that the government will act, whether through...