In the middle of the 20th Century, tobacco companies were in trouble. Their adult customers were either quitting or dying early deaths, harming sales.

So they turned to a new market: children. They produced flavoured cigarettes. They invented fun animal mascots: in 1991, Joe CamelAn advertising mascot for the RJ Reynolds Tobacco Company used between 1974 and 1997. , a smoking dromedaryA one-humped camel. used to promote Camel cigarettes, was as well-known among three to six-year-olds as Mickey Mouse.¹

Eventually, governments came under enough public pressure that they banned marketing cigarettes to children. Now some think governments should apply the same methods to a new epidemicA widespread disease or infection.: the crisis of child mental health.

A new survey, conducted among people aged 16 to 18, has found a strong correlationA connection between two things in which one thing changes as the other does, but it is not necessarily the case that one thing has caused the other to change. between social media use and anxietyA feeling of unease or worry. It can be mild or very severe..

Fully 60% of respondents said they spent between two and four hours a day on social media.²

Previous research has also linked social media use with poor mental health. Even MetaThe new name of the company which owns Facebook and Instagram., one of the world's biggest social media companies, found in 2022 that at least 10% of teenage girls using Instagram, which it owns, reported worse body image, sleep, eating habits and feelings of anxiety.³

Little wonder more and more children are receiving mental health treatment. From 2023 until March of this year, 20% of 16- and 17-year-old girls in England had been in contact with NHSThe National Health Service, the publicly funded healthcare system in the UK. The NHS was founded in 1948. mental health services. So were 7% of girls and 11% of boys aged six to ten.⁴

This is why some think the only answer is to cut off the problem at its source and treat smartphonesA phone that works in the same way as a computer, with apps, access to the internet and more. the way we do cigarettes.

Many adults are already shifting to the low-tech version, fearing distraction from their smartphones is harming their productivity.

But others say we should not throw out the baby with the bathwater. While it would be a good thing, they say, to limit our social media use, for many young people social media is a lifeline.

This is especially true, they argue, of vulnerable young people who might lack friends at school or even face bullying from their peers. For many, they say, social media provides access to an online community of sympathetic people that they cannot find in real life.

Should we give up smartphones?

Yes: Like any addictive substance, the only solution is to give social media up. We do not need smartphones and we would get on better without them.

No: Never in human history have we successfully rolled back the tide of technology. Phones are less like cigarettes and more like cars: potentially lethal but indispensableSomething that you cannot do without. . Like cars, we must teach people how to use them responsibly.

Or... We live in a world full of distractions. Social media is only one of them. Rather than honing in on phones, we should be making a much more general effort to live life at a slower pace.

Joe Camel - An advertising mascot for the RJ Reynolds Tobacco Company used between 1974 and 1997.

Dromedary - A one-humped camel.

Epidemic - A widespread disease or infection.

Correlation - A connection between two things in which one thing changes as the other does, but it is not necessarily the case that one thing has caused the other to change.

Anxiety - A feeling of unease or worry. It can be mild or very severe.

Meta - The new name of the company which owns Facebook and Instagram.

NHS - The National Health Service, the publicly funded healthcare system in the UK. The NHS was founded in 1948.

Smartphones - A phone that works in the same way as a computer, with apps, access to the internet and more.

Indispensable - Something that you cannot do without.