Doctors Warn Social Media Poses Smoking-Level Health Risk
The Academy of Medical Royal Colleges has highlighted the health risks posed by social media to young people, comparing it to the dangers of smoking. They recommend that healthcare providers routinely assess and record social media usage among younger patients. The organization calls for guidance on identifying unhealthy social media habits and supporting families in safe usage practices.
- ▪The impact of social media on young people's health is a major concern for the medical profession.
- ▪Doctors are urged to ask about and record screen time and social media use during consultations with younger patients.
- ▪The Royal College of General Practitioners has noted a rise in mental health issues linked to digital exposure.
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| Original publisher | Medscape |
| Canonical URL | https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/doctors-warn-social-media-poses-smoking-level-health-risk-2026a1000hca?src=rss |
| Publication time | Tue, 26 May 2026 14:04:59 EDT |
| Retrieval time | 2026-05-26T18:07:50.919Z |
| Last seen | 2026-05-26T18:07:50.919Z |
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| Commercial reuse | May the content be reused commercially? | Not permitted |
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The Academy of Medical Royal Colleges (AOMRC) has said that the impact of social media on young people's health ranks alongside smoking as a unifying concern for the medical profession, in a submission to the government's consultation on children's online safety, Growing Up in the Online World.The submission, made to the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) as part of a UK-wide consultation, calls on doctors to routinely ask about screen time and social media use when seeing younger patients — and to record this data, so that healthcare provision can be directed to where it is most needed.The document noted that the true scale of the problem remained unknown, because screen time and social media use were not routinely recorded in clinical settings.Other…
Excerpt limited to ~120 words for fair-use compliance. The full article is at Medscape.
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