Health: Children
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of (a) social media and (b) smartphone addiction on children's long-term health outcomes.
Answered by Ashley Dalton
In 2019, the UK Chief Medical Officers published a commentary on a systematic review of screen-based activities, including social media, and their impact on children and young people’s mental health. They found an association between screen-based activities and mental health but could not establish causality.
The Department of Health and Social Care and the Department of Education are jointly working to produce and publish new practical, evidence informed guidance on screentime for early years (zero to five) by April 2026. An expert group of child health and development specialists has been convened to shape the guidance, which will also be informed by the perspectives of parents and carers.
On 20 January 2026, the Government announced a forthcoming consultation on how to ensure children have a healthy relationship with devices, introduce rapid trials on measures to reduce screentime and limit access at night, and produce evidence-informed screentime guidance for parents of children aged between five and sixteen years old. This three-month consultation will be evidence-led, with input from independent experts. It will report in the summer.
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