Editorial: Screen time, social media and developing brains: a cause for good or corrupting young minds?
Bernadka Dubicka, Jennifer Martin, and Joseph Firth
Abstract
In 2018, the Royal College of Psychiatrists held a debate for young people about social media, a subject of their own choosing. The young people spoke eloquently but had differing views. One young person held up his smartphone and stated ‘this is my heroin – it’s the heroin of our generation’. In contrast, another young person argued ‘I don’t agree – this is my life line, I am a looked‐after child, living on my own, and it’s the only way I have of keeping in touch with my family and friends’.
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Dr. Bernadka Dubicka is Consultant Psychiatrist at Pennine Care Foundation Trust, and is also Honorary Reader at the University of Manchester. She is Deputy Editor-in-Chief of CAMH.
Dr. Jennifer Martin is Senior Programme Manager for Mental Health & Technology Research within NIHR MindTech MedTech Co-operative (MIC) at the University of Nottingham. She is Associate Editor of CAMH.
Dr. Joseph Firth is Senior Research Fellow at Western Sydney University’s NICM Health Research Institute. He is also Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Manchester.
