Anonymousabout 1 hour ago
The UK's Academy of Medical Royal Colleges has declared social media as dangerous to young people as smoking, submitting a report to the government's Growing Up In The Online World consultation that urges doctors to screen for social media harm. While adolescent depression and self-harm rates have risen sharply since smartphone adoption became widespread around 2012, researchers remain deeply divided over whether social media is a direct cause — and whether the comparison to tobacco, one of the most well-documented killers in epidemiological history, is scientifically justified.