Screens can be found in most places where children and youth live, learn, and play. When kids use digital media often and for long periods of time, their health and development can be affected, especially their mental health. Parents and caregivers are increasingly concerned about the amount of time their kids are spending on screens, and the consequences of that use. As paediatricians, we hear these concerns and see these impacts every day. 

The Canadian Paediatric Society recently launched a new Centre for Healthy Screen Use to help provide guidance for practitioners, parents, and policymakers to support healthy screen use and mental health. But protecting infants, children, and youth from the negative effects of screen use is not just a family issue, it’s also a public policy issue. The force and reach of digital platforms and global tech giants must be met with federal leadership and legislation that prioritizes the best interests of children and youth. 

While age-appropriate screen use and intentional engagement with quality content can have positive influences for education, connection with family and friends, and creative play, heavy or inappropriate screen use can displace opportunities to learn, play, sleep, self-regulate, and interact with family and friends. Parent or caregiver screen use can also interrupt routines, play, attachment and appropriate engagement with kids from infancy to adolescence, which in turn can affect emotional regulation and parent-child relationships.

There is a growing body of evidence to support urgent and decisive legislative and policy interventions. A 2019 study of Canadians 12-17 years of age associated frequent social media use with lower mental health and higher risks of elevated eating disorder symptoms and suicidal ideation, particularly for girls. The United Kingdom’s Millennium Cohort Study revealed that online harassment, poorer sleep quantity and quality, self-esteem, and body image largely explained associations between social media and depression. A study from Western University showed heightened anxiety in teenagers from social media use, with weekday screen time over two hours and passive scrolling having the strongest negative influences. 

In 2023, the United States Surgeon General issued an advisory that warned about the risks associated with excessive and problematic social media use, and the design features of platforms that strategically maximize user engagement—including push notifications, autoplay, infinite scroll, quantifying and displaying popularity, and algorithms that leverage user data to continually deliver content recommendations. The developing minds of children and youth make them particularly sensitive to such immediate and attention-grabbing features.

Protecting and promoting online safety and well-being requires the Government of Canada to urgently take a clear position that the best interests of children and youth will be prioritized over the profits of tech companies. Many comparable jurisdictions (including the U.K. and European Union) have already passed legislation and established regulators to prioritize child safety online.

We can learn from these examples to design a made-in-Canada approach. For example, the EU’s Digital Services Act requires member states to create Digital Services Coordinators to monitor and enforce compliance under the Act. The U.K.’s Age-Appropriate Design Code puts children’s physical and mental well-being first by requiring platforms to act in the best interests of the child. California’s Age-Appropriate Design Code Act recognizes that children should be afforded special protections by all online products and services they are likely to access, not just those specifically directed at them.

The federal government must bring Canada into alignment with emerging best practice. A clear and overdue first step would be to pass comprehensive digital safety legislation that establishes an independent regulator mandated with enforcement powers to protect the best interests of children and youth. In a constantly changing digital world, we cannot fall even further behind in protecting the health and well-being of kids in Canada. The time to act is now.

Dr. Michelle Ponti is a pediatrician at the Child and Parent Resource Institute, Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry at Western University, and chair of the CPS Digital Health Task Force. Dr. Stacey Bélanger is a pediatric specialist in neurodevelopmental medicine at CHSU Sainte Justine, an associate professor at Université de Montréal, and a member of the CPS Digital Health Task Force.

The Hill Times