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Health Professionals For Safer Screens, London (2026)

23/12/2025

As we come to the end of 2025 at Health Professionals for Safer Screens, it’s hard to capture just how much has been achieved and how many people have made it possible.

This year, we’ve worked alongside incredible health professionals, academic researchers, educators, parents, parliamentarians and campaigners across the UK and beyond. Every resource we’ve created has been shaped by frontline clinical experience and rigorous research. Most recently, Dr Megan Gath (University of Canterbury, New Zealand) shared her pioneering early-years research with us, showing that higher screen time is linked to poorer language skills, lower academic ability and increased peer problems. Crucially, her work confirms that lower screen use in childhood does not limit digital competence.

The message is becoming clearer and harder to ignore. Screens are shaping early development, caregiver–child bonds and mental health, with the most significant harms falling on the most vulnerable children. It is time for policymakers to listen and to act for all children, not just those with the loudest voices.

We’ve been proud this year to support aligned campaigns, collaborate with brilliant organisations, listen to young people’s lived experiences, and work constructively with parliamentarians on Bills and amendments. There have been books, briefings, films, talks, meetings and events carried forward with extraordinary commitment by our unpaid volunteers, to whom we are deeply grateful.

Please keep going.

As Christmas approaches, we’ve loved sharing thoughtful, screen-free gift ideas from our expert members. Like Professor Matthew Sadlier’s encyclopaedia, Dr Becky is reminded of her own childhood favourite, a beautifully illustrated copy of Aesop’s Fables. Stories, curiosity, and connection still endure long after the latest device has been forgotten. Perhaps our politicians might enjoy a read too.

We are gaining momentum and we will not back down.

Thank you to everyone who has walked alongside us this year.
 Wishing you a peaceful, restorative Christmas.

22/12/2025

Advice I’d give you if I wasn’t afraid to hurt your feelings…

Your 14-year-old doesn’t need protein powders or creatine under the Christmas tree.

He needs a home-cooked meal. A break from gym-influencer videos telling him he’s not enough. And the reassurance that his value isn’t measured by muscle, macros, or mirror checks.

As Dr Jeremy Alford explains, boys today are increasingly exposed to intense fitness and body-comparison content online, pressure to perform, to bulk up, to look a certain way before they’ve even finished growing.
This season is a chance to do something different.

Instead of reinforcing that pressure, we can nourish them with: 🤍 Presence, not products 🤍 Connection, not comparison 🤍 Emotional safety, not performance goals

Growing bodies need balance, rest, real food and growing minds need permission to be themselves.

The greatest gift we can offer our young people isn’t something wrapped.
 It’s belonging. Confidence. And the quiet message: you are enough, exactly as you are.

19/12/2025

As we approach the Christmas holidays, it can be easy to stay glued to our devices. But even a Nobel Prize winner recently showed the value of being truly offline. Fred Ramsdell was out hiking in the wilderness, phone on airplane mode, and didn’t even know he had won the Nobel Prize until much later. He was fully present in the moment, disconnected from the constant pull of notifications.

Most of us spend over three hours a day on our phones. While they keep us connected, they can also disrupt sleep, increase anxiety, and reduce opportunities for spontaneous interaction, especially for children.

This holiday season, we invite you to take a leaf out of Fred Ramsdell’s book: a small shift in attention, a little less screen time, and a little more time noticing the world around you.

Not a detox. Not a challenge. Just a chance to pause, connect, and make the moments that truly matter.

🌲 More presence. Less pings. More memories.

18/12/2025

Books change childhoods.
They spark imagination, build language, strengthen connection and, crucially, offer a screen-free sanctuary in a digital world that rarely pauses.

This winter, inspired by the Icelandic tradition of Jólabókaflóð, the “Christmas Book Flood”, we’re spotlighting some of the incredible authors within the Health Professionals for Safer Screens community.

These educators, clinicians, and thinkers are not only working to safeguard children’s wellbeing, they’re also writing books that help families and schools do the same.

From imaginative stories to practical guides on movement, speech, and digital health, their work offers wisdom, comfort and hope at a time when children need it most.

📚 Why Jólabókaflóð matters
Reading for pleasure is now at its lowest point in 20 years.
But giving children the freedom to choose a book, and the time and space to enjoy it, can reignite a love of stories that lasts a lifetime.

So this festive season, we invite you to create your own Christmas Book Flood:
🌟 Gift a book
🌟 Swap a book
🌟 Snuggle up and read together
🌟 Bring a moment of calm, warmth and wonder

If you’d like ideas for bringing Jólabókaflóð into your school or classroom, the National Literacy Trust has a wonderful free resource to help you get started.

Let’s flood our homes and classrooms with stories, connection and joy, not screens.

Which book will you begin with?

16/12/2025

With parents increasingly worried about the impact of smartphones and social media on children’s mental health, it’s no surprise that Lego is having a moment.

A recent Guardian report revealed that Lego sales jumped 12%, with the CEO noting that many families are choosing “relevant and exciting experiences” that keep kids off their phones.

We couldn’t agree more.

So we asked one of our HPFSS Supporters, Janine Chandler, a Lego Serious Play facilitator, why Lego is such a powerful, screen-free activity for kids. Here’s what she shared:

🧠 1. It boosts brain development
Our fingertips have more nerve endings than any other part of the body. When children build, explore and manipulate Lego, they’re strengthening neural pathways and supporting healthy cognitive development.

💬 2. It sparks communication
Simple questions like “What are you making?” or “Who lives there?” open up conversation, storytelling and connection.

🌈 3. It unlocks imagination
There’s no right or wrong. A handful of bricks can become animals, rockets, houses, whatever your child dreams up. It’s collaborative, creative play at its best.

As Janine says:
“Just sit down with a handful of bricks and let your hands do the thinking.”

With social media addiction now ranking among parents’ top three fears (GWI Research), gifting something that encourages creativity, calm and connection feels more important than ever.

🎁 This Christmas, a small bag of Lego might be the perfect alternative to another hour of scrolling.
Simple. Affordable. Good for their brains, and your bond.

15/12/2025

Frank Cottrell-Boyce’s words spoke volumes not just as a children’s author, but as someone articulating what many health professionals are now seeing every day.

He reflected on the slow, predictable rhythm of children’s storytelling: content that was still, evenly paced, and quietly demanding, asking children to sit, listen, and attend. Those qualities, he suggested, are increasingly rare. And they are precisely the qualities children need most.

Across clinics, classrooms and early years settings, professionals are observing the same pattern: children struggling with sustained attention, listening skills, stillness, and language processing. These are not abstract concerns. They are foundational skills for learning, emotional regulation and social development.

As early years neuroscience continues to show, and as Professor Sam Wass has consistently explained, attention is not something children can “pick up” from fast-paced digital environments. Young brains learn to focus through rhythm, repetition, relational interaction and calm. Skills that require time cannot be built in environments designed for speed.

This is why it matters to be precise in this conversation.

Not all screen content for young children is the same. Carefully curated, slow-paced early-years programming, particularly when shared with a present adult, can be supportive and even nourishing. But fast, attention-grabbing digital platforms work against the very capacities children are being asked to develop.

What Frank Cottrell-Boyce articulated was not nostalgia.
 It was a clear, humane expression of developmental science.
Early childhood does not need acceleration.
 It needs pace, presence, protection, and a media environment that understands how young brains actually grow.

Frank Cottrell-Boyce speaking on BBC Breakfast, shared with thanks.

14/12/2025

Psychiatrist Dr Matthew Sadlier, member of Health Professionals for Safer Screens, explains on CNN why Australia’s decision to restrict social media for under-16s matters and why it helps families rather than punishing them.

The harms linked to social media exposure in children are not speculative. They’re well documented: disrupted sleep, anxiety, eating disorders, self-image problems, reduced concentration and cognitive development. Many young people are now using phones to regulate their emotions, and instead of easing distress, this escalates it.

Crucially, this isn’t just about the children who already have accounts and will need time to adjust. It’s about the generation behind them, children who won’t have to “withdraw” from platforms because they were never exposed in the first place.
We also need to stop placing this burden solely on parents.

Families are doing their best in an environment where these platforms are intentionally addictive by design, with no clear cultural message that they are harmful. People can only make informed choices when they’re properly informed, and the law helps do exactly that.

Regulation doesn’t mean children lose connection. It means they connect without being funnelled into recommender algorithms that push harmful, addictive content. It means responsibility shifts back where it belongs to tech companies and parents gain real support, clarity and confidence.

Australia is acknowledging what health professionals see every day: this is a public health issue. Not a parenting failure.

It’s time other countries followed suit.

11/12/2025

There’s a growing misconception that stronger social media regulation is about forcing teenagers to comply. It isn’t. This is how parents get their authority back: not by fighting harder, but by having legislation that stands with them.

As Dr Becky Foljambe explained on Times Radio, the reality is far more urgent and far more compassionate.

Many teenagers say they’re struggling. Polls consistently show that Gen Z and older teens want higher age limits, tougher regulations, and more protection, because they know how harmful the platforms can be. They don’t want to fight these battles alone.

And parents? They’re exhausted. Families tell us every day how impossible it feels to push back against apps engineered to hijack attention, mood, sleep and self-worth.
That’s why regulation matters.

This is not about punishing children. It’s about finally holding tech companies accountable for the harms they cause.
 Australia’s new law gives parents and children something they have never truly had before: backup.

As Dr Becky put it, regulation empowers parents and protects the children who are most vulnerable, those with additional needs, those already struggling socially or emotionally, and those at highest risk of being exploited or drawn into unhealthy online relationships.

We must stop pretending this is simply a matter of parenting harder.

The Children’s Commissioner found that 59% of children saw po*******hy accidentally, not by searching. The Youth Endowment Fund found 25% are being sent violent content on social media.

This is not curiosity.
 This is algorithmic targeting of children.
Stronger laws give families a fighting chance. They give children confidence that adults are finally listening. And they stop the relentless stream of harmful content at its source — the platforms themselves.

Australia’s approach may not be perfect yet, but it is brave, it is protective, and it recognises reality:
Most children do not want more screen time; they want help. And parents deserve the support of legislation that prioritises children’s health.

10/12/2025

Australia has officially implemented the world’s first under-16 social media ban, a historic shift in global child protection.

Today, HPFSS founder Dr Rebecca Foljambe writes in the Daily Express explaining why the UK must urgently follow Australia’s lead.

As a frontline GP, Dr Foljambe sees the reality that many still underestimate:

“These problems are now of pandemic proportions.”
“This is criminal records, dangerous relationships, extreme violence, unplanned pregnancies, complex mental illness…”

These harms aren’t rare or harmless. They are happening every day in UK clinics.

And the most vulnerable children are hit hardest:

“Take all these harms… and then double down on our most vulnerable.”

The scale is staggering:
📌 800,000 UK children aged 3–5 use social media independently
📌 Teens are fed violent and pornographic content automatically — not by choice
📌 Self-harm, sleep deprivation, coercion, unhealthy relationships and misinformation are now the daily backdrop of adolescence
Australia decided enough was enough and acted.

Dr Foljambe is clear:
“Whichever way we cut it, more children will be protected with this legislation.”

With Lord Nash’s amendment returning to Parliament in the New Year, the UK has a rare chance to take meaningful, protective action before more children are harmed.

HPFSS stands firmly behind this call.
It’s time to put children’s health above tech profits.
It’s time for leadership.
It’s time to follow Australia.

09/12/2025

Ahead of tomorrow’s landmark social media ban for under-16s in Australia, HPFSS member Dr Sanjiv Nichani joined BBC Breakfast with a message the UK can no longer ignore.

“These measures give parents some ammunition in this ongoing battle every day,” he said — a battle against devices that are addictive by design, engineered to hijack dopamine pathways and keep children scrolling long past what their developing brains can cope with.
And the scale of the problem is undeniable:
 📊 33% of UK teenagers now spend 5–6 hours a day on social media apps alone. This is not “normal teenage behaviour” it is precisely what these platforms were built to achieve.
Our members see the fallout daily: 📉 Children unable to sleep 💬 Rising anxiety and self-harm 🧠 Speech delay, poor focus and emotional dysregulation ⚠️ Teens absorbing harmful content and unsafe advice at scale.

“We are in a screendemic,” he warned and families are carrying the burden alone.
Australia’s move is historic. It recognises what health professionals worldwide have been saying for years:
 Children cannot self-regulate against billion-dollar platforms engineered to keep them hooked.
A statutory age limit isn’t extreme. It’s evidence-based, proportionate and overdue.
Let’s hope Australia’s action sparks a global shift. Our children deserve protection that matches the scale of the harm.

👉 HPFSS continues to call for a UK under-16 age limit for social media and urgent regulation of addictive smartphone design. 
Tomorrow, Australia leads. Now the question is: will we follow? Let this be a global trend.

06/12/2025

Movement isn’t just good for children... it’s medicinal.
And no one explains this more clearly than Dr Sanjiv Nichani, Consultant Paediatrician at Leicester Children’s Hospital, Founder of the Healing Little Hearts Global Foundation, and valued member of Health Professionals for Safer Screens.

In his new book Movement Is Medicine, Dr Sanjiv breaks down (in simple, science-backed language) how physical activity can support children struggling with:

✨ Anxiety
✨ Depression
✨ ADHD
✨ Autism-related challenges
✨ Screen addiction
✨ Gaming addiction

He reminds us that movement doesn’t need to be expensive or complicated, it just needs to be regular, consistent, and enjoyable. Even three sessions a week can create powerful changes in a child’s physical and mental wellbeing.

We love this book, and we think every parent, teacher, and health professional should read it. Because in a world where screens are pulling children in tighter every year, Dr Sanjiv’s message has never been more important:

🌿 More green time. Less screen time. 🌿

05/12/2025

Today, on International Volunteer Day, we celebrate the people at the heart of Health Professionals for Safer Screens, a collective built entirely by volunteers who give their time, expertise, and compassion to protect children’s health.

HPFSS began in April 2024, when NHS GP Dr Rebecca Foljambe asked a simple question:
“Do other health professionals feel as strongly about the harms of children’s addictive screen use?”

The response was immediate.

Paediatricians, psychologists, psychotherapists, speech therapists, GPs, dietitians, public health consultants, and social workers came forward with the same concerns from their clinical work.
And just like that, HPFSS was born: a movement of health professionals determined to create change.

Today, we honour the volunteers who make this work possible.
Their voices, their values, and their dedication are shaping a safer digital world for children.

Swipe to hear why they chose to volunteer 👇

✨ To every volunteer in HPFSS, thank you. Your work matters, and children across the UK will feel the impact for years to come.

And if you’re a health professional who wants to join this mission, we would love to welcome you.
Visit our website to learn more and get involved.

Health Professionals For Safer Screens

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