Smartphones are ‘poisoning’ children’s brains, says visiting speaker

Dr Sanjiv Nichani, a consultant paediatrician at the Leicester Children’s Hospital in the University Hospitals of Leicester for the past 25 years, has been invited to speak at Les Beaucamps High School on Saturday morning by pressure group Smartphone Free Childhood Guernsey, which is calling for a community-wide commitment to delay giving children smartphones until they reach Year 10, or age 14.

Based on what he was seeing in his clinics, Dr Nichani said children and teenagers were exhibiting symptoms such as communication problems and language delays as a result of excessive smartphone use.

This was in addition to headaches, lethargy and poor focus.

MRI scans were also showing shifts in brain behaviour similar to those of someone with a learning disorder such as autism or ADHD.

Dr Nichani said 35% of teenagers were using their phones for more than five or six hours a day, which had led to him coining the term ‘screendemic’.

‘In the last 15 years, civilisation as we know it has been upended by smartphones and social media,’ he said.

‘I think a lot of people are unaware that the apps we use have algorithms which hack into the pleasure hormone in our brain – dopamine – and cause us to become addicted.

‘They’re poisoning children’s brains, and frankly it’s terrifying to think where things could go if we don’t take action now.

‘We can’t afford to delay.’

He insisted his calls to limit smartphone use were not about asking for a complete ban on the devices, as that was ‘unrealistic’ due to how ingrained into daily life they were.

But he said ‘moderate and reasonable’ safeguarding measures needed to be put in place.

‘People often ask me if it’s too late to change – fortunately humans have something called neuro-plasticity which means our brains are evolving and developing all the time, but particularly when we are young.

‘There is evidence something as simple as regular exercise can cause a reduction in the harmful chemicals in the brain from excessive phone use.

‘It’s about making those positive changes.’

He praised the efforts of Smartphone Free Childhood Guernsey, and said he ‘absolutely supported’ its aim of banning smartphones in schools for children until Year 10.

He also welcomed the news from Jersey, where all government-run schools will ban the use of smartphones for students up to the end of Year 11 from the next academic year.

‘If change is going to occur, it needs to be systemic and start with government,’ he said.

‘That will give parents ammunition to justify to their children why they are taking their smartphones away from them for a good part of the day.

‘Schools with smartphone bans tend to be happier, there is more human interaction, less bullying, targeting and FOMO [fear of missing out].

‘If the Channel Islands were to lead on this, it would be a powerful message to send the rest of the world.’