FPM supports urgent action on children’s health and technology use

We are proud to support urgent action in response to growing concerns about the impact of technology and online content on children and young people’s physical and mental health.

We have co-signed a joint letter led by the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges (AoMRC) to the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care and the Secretary of State for Science and Technology. The letter draws attention to increasing concerns across the medical profession and welcomes ongoing work to review the evidence on excessive screen time and exposure to harmful online content.

Our President, Dr Sheuli Porkess, recently attended a roundtable hosted by AoMRC, which focused on the accumulating evidence of health harms associated with tech and devices, as witnessed by frontline clinicians. Clinicians at the roundtable shared powerful testimonies about the cases they are seeing throughout the NHS and medical specialties. These discussions reinforced the need to move beyond isolated anecdotes and to gather evidence systematically about the harms that healthcare professionals and specialists are observing repeatedly in children and young people.

We are proud to be part of this work and to contribute to ongoing efforts to address these concerns.