Is Your Teen Scrolling? They Might as Well Be Smoking

Published: June 2, 2026

75F93275-FBED-496B-AEAF-FAEBE45A8730_1_201_a — Photo by cottonbro studio via Pexels

By Movieguide® Staff

Could social media really be as bad for you as smoking? These experts think so.

“There can be few issues which have united clinicians so resoundingly in recent years as the impact that unfettered exposure to tech and devices is currently having on children and young people’s health,” Jeanette Dickson, chair for the UK’s Academy of Medical Royal Colleges, wrote in the foreword of a new report on social media use in teens. “It ranks alongside smoking and wearing seatbelts in cars as a unifying force for the medical profession.”

Dickson continued, “And while there are those that may argue about a correlation rather than direct evidence of causation as some did in the sixties and seventies with smoking and seatbelts, there is, I think, an overwhelming consensus that excessive screen time can harm children and young people and we need to call this out unflinchingly rather than passively wait for someone else to prove causation.”

Social media as bad for young people as smoking, top doctors say https://t.co/UM2J6TPJOz

— BBC News (UK) (@BBCNews) May 26, 2026

In the report, more than half of the 132 doctors surveyed said that at least one “case of harm” could be linked to social media use, such as mental health traumas or drug overdoses.

Dr. Emily Sehmer, a consultant child psychiatrist, said, “Mental health services are inundated with referrals for children with anxiety, low mood, inattention, sleep disorders, challenging behaviors, violence and toxic ideology as a direct result of time spent online.”

“We are being asked to pathologize a normal childhood response to being continuously exposed to hateful, manipulative, addictive and grossly distressing content. Children should never have been expected, or allowed, to navigate this world alone,” she continued.

The UK’s government recently launched a public consultation into whether or not to ban social media for those under 16, as Australia did last year.

Technology Secretary Liz Kendall said the consultation would help form how young people could “thrive in an age of rapid technological change,” per the BBC.

“The path to a good life is a great childhood, one full of love, learning and play. That applies just as much to the online world as it does to the real one,” she said. “We know parents everywhere are grappling with how much screen time their children should have, when they should give them a phone, what they are seeing online, and the impact all of this is having. This is why we’re asking children and parents to take part in this landmark consultation.”

The results of this public consultation are expected to be published some time this summer.

As we learn more about the longterm impacts of social media and smartphone use on young people, it’s becoming more and more urgent to limit teens and children’s access to this technology.

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