According to a survey released by the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges, social media “ranks alongside smoking” as a concern to the health of youth. The Government’s ‘Growing Up In The Online World’ consultation, which included options such as an Australia-style social media ban for minors, app curfews, and curbs on addictive features, ends at the end of Tuesday. In a consultation study, the academy warned that doctors are witnessing “a wave of radicalised children” who have been exposed to “hateful, addictive, and grossly distressing content”.
The academy conducted a survey of 454 doctors, and half of them treated at least one child per week whose emotional discomfort or physical harm was directly related to online content. The study includes heartbreaking accounts of deaths and injuries caused by violent or extremist interests.
Former health secretary Wes Streeting stated in his first public statement on the matter since leaving Cabinet earlier this month that social media should be punished similarly to tobacco. “It’s extremely addictive, bad for our health, and Big Tech is borrowing the Big Tobacco playbook to avoid regulation,” he stated.
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