This week Emma speaks to Dr Helen Thomas, a GP in Hampshire and a member of the group Healthcare Professionals for Safer Screens.

Helen has been involved with developing screening tools and training resources to help clinicians identify problematic smartphone use in young people which might be affecting their mental health.

In this conversation Helen explains the evidence linking excessive screen time to worsening mental health outcomes, poor sleep, and developmental delays, and highlights the harmful content algorithms push to young users.

She explains why it's vital for GPs to ask about device use when consulting with young people presenting with mental health issues and the screening tools and resources that can help clinicians do this.

And she discusses the wider changes needed to tackle this issue, including what the government should be doing.

This conversation includes discussion of self harm and suicide.

This episode was presented by GPonline editor Emma Bower. It was produced by Czarina Deen.

Useful links

Health Professionals for Safer Screens

Health Professionals for Safer Screens resources - including screening tool, health intervention information and training worlds

How TikTok harms boys and girls differently - the Guardian video that Emma mentions in this conversation

Details of Esther Ghey’s campaign to ban smartphones in schools - from BBC

Jonathan Haidt’s Let Grow movement, which Helen mentions in this conversation

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