Doctors and medical experts have warned of the growing evidence of “health harms” from tech and devices on children and young people in the UK.
The Academy of Medical Royal Colleges (AoMRC) said frontline clinicians have given personal testimony about “horrific cases they have treated in primary, secondary and community settings throughout the NHS and across most medical specialities”.
The body, which represents 23 medical royal colleges and faculties, plans to gather evidence to establish the issues healthcare professionals and specialists are seeing repeatedly that may be attributed to tech and devices.
It intends to highlight the sometimes-hidden risks of unrestricted content and screen time to children and young people and provide guidance to the medical profession about how to identify and manage the harm being done.
The academy said it already had “evidence of the impact on children and young people’s physical and mental health both from excessive screen time as well as exposure to harmful online content”.
It says the work is due to be completed within three months.
The letter was sent to Health Secretary Wes Streeting and Science and Technology Secretary Liz Kendall.
Chief executive of the National Institute for Health Research, Lucy Chappell, and the UK government’s chief medical adviser, Sir Chris Whitty, were also sent a copy.
Dr Jeanette Dickson, chair of the academy, told The Sunday Times: “Without doubt, we are seeing the beginning of a public health emergency with our own eyes. Everywhere we look, we see children and adults glued to their screens.
“I really worry for children, some of whom are self-evidently imprisoned in a digital bubble.”
Recent government research linked screen time to poor speech development in under-fives.
It comes as the government prepares to announce plans to restrict the use of social media for under-16s. A consultation is expected to be launched this week.
Options range from a full ban to limited interventions, including time restrictions and tighter algorithm controls.
In December, Australia introduced a ban on under-16s having social media accounts. Many other countries around the world, including France, Denmark, Norway and Malaysia, are now considering similar bans.
However, some children’s and online safety organisations say a blanket ban is not the right way forward.
A joint statement, signed by 43 child protection charities and online safety groups, including the NSPCC and the Molly Rose Foundation, alongside academics and bereaved families, warned of serious unintended consequences that could put children at greater risk.
They wrote: “Though well-intentioned, blanket bans on social media would fail to deliver the improvement in children’s safety and wellbeing that they so urgently need. They are a blunt response that fails to address the successive shortcomings of tech companies and governments to act decisively and sooner.”
Andy Burrows, chief executive of the Molly Rose Foundation, told Sky News: “We’re really concerned that parents and parliamentarians are being presented with a false binary right now, the idea that either we proceed with an outright ban and or we continue with the appalling status quo in which children are coming to harm. Those simply aren’t the only options available to us”.
He also called on Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer to “do the right thing”.
Andy Burrows, chief executive of the Molly Rose Foundation
Mr Burrows said: “What we’ve seen is an online safety act that was watered down because of the political chaos over the last few years. It is not strong enough. It is not being enforced robustly enough.
“But we can take action… We can make sure that the tech companies face the fines and the criminal sanctions that will finally make them address these issues. But it needs Keir Starmer to be listening to this groundswell of concern from parents, from experts, and then to do the right thing.”
In another statement, Chris Sherwood, chief executive of the NSPCC, highlighted the “countless children” for whom the internet is “a lifeline,” describing it as “a source of community, identity, and vital support”.
He said: “A blanket ban would take those spaces away overnight and risks driving teenagers into darker, unregulated corners of the internet.”
Mr Sherwood also urged change from online platforms themselves, saying: “Tech companies must be held accountable by Government and Ofcom for their harmful design choices, their reckless algorithms, and their failure to take responsibility for dangerous content.”
