Category: News

Andrea Chrysanthou says it’s been almost impossible to limit her 13-year-old son Nathaniel’s screen time.

“My son understands that he’s addicted,” said Chrysanthou, the Toronto-based board chair of the advocacy group Children First Canada. She says he’s asked her for help to stop using his digital device so much, but the minute she turns her back, he’s reaching for it again.

Her son is like millions of other kids around the world whose physical and mental well-being are at risk because of excess screen time, according to a new series of research papers published Sunday by medical journal The Lancet.

It’s a broad review of international studies that allowed researchers to distill the potential harms and benefits of digital technology, and offers a sense of “what needs to happen to protect children’s health,” said co-author Jay Shaw, an assistant professor in the University of Toronto’s Department of Physical Therapy.

Despite the breadth of their analysis, Shaw and his colleagues say the true severity of the issue can’t be fully understood or addressed without access to tech companies’ own user data — something those companies are currently under no obligation to share.

WATCH | Social media consumption is public health issue, study says:

Study calls for public health action on kids’ screen time

Excessive screen time is taking a toll on young people’s health, according to a major new study. Researchers warn it’s linked to anxiety, depression and poor sleep. They’re urging governments to intervene.

But they say their research makes the case that screen addiction among young people is a public health issue that requires governments to intervene.

Parents can’t be the only line of defence, Chrysanthou told CBC News.

“We want the companies and the platforms to take responsibility, to make their platforms safe.”

A ‘clear’ picture

Shaw and his fellow researchers reviewed data from 2,790 studies comprised of more than nine million participants.

Among the youngest users of digital devices, age 10 and under, too much screen time was linked to sleeping less and affected cognitive, emotional and social development.

There was a wider range of implications for young people between the ages of 10 and 24, from mental health problems and reduced physical activity to substance abuse, self-harm and suicidal ideation.

“I think we’re in a moment globally right now, where the harms associated with digital media use, especially for young people, have become quite clear,” Shaw told CBC News.

Dr. Rachel Mitchell, a psychiatrist at Toronto’s Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, says this research confirms that tech and social media companies need to share responsibility.

She says most digital platforms and applications weren’t designed for young people, noting that kids five and under and adolescents are at a time in their lives when their brains are still developing and they are more vulnerable.

Mitchell says they’re being bombarded with digital distractions from various applications, games and platforms that often aim to capture constant attention by employing features like autoplay, push notifications and elements of gamification, along with daily rewards for online activity.

“Adults, at least, have fully developed frontal lobes with which to regulate, and they can’t even do it themselves,” she said, referring to the ability to limit screen use.

“So, why we’re expecting children to do it is beyond me.”

WATCH | Why educational experts blame overuse of AI, excess screen time for dropping grades:

Experts blame AI, screens for slipping Canadian student test scores

While Canadian students still perform well globally in math, science and reading, scores have dipped significantly in recent years. Some educational experts blame the rising overuse of AI and too much screen time.

Tech’s ‘big tobacco’ moment?

Shaw says there’s a long history of public health interventions when it comes to health-related concerns about certain habits, such as smoking. He says the addictive nature of social media and other digital platforms should be no different.

And society, he says, may be at its “so-called big tobacco moment” with technology.

“If we don’t get out in front of it, then digital technologies will end up being more harmful than beneficial for public health.”

But Mitchell says addressing excess screen use, especially for young people, is a different scenario than smoking.

She says there are no real benefits to smoking, while digital devices and media serve many purposes in our daily lives.

A cigarette, she adds, won’t help you find your way around the city — but a phone will.

In fact, Mitchell points out, the data review in The Lancet highlights the positive benefits of digital media for young people when it’s used in moderation, as well as when it’s used for education and extracurricular learning.

But, she says in order to leverage the benefits, the risks of these technologies need to be managed.

Seven-year-old Tonah plays on a tablet at his home in Lewes in southern England on March 27. Data analyzed for Shaw’s research showed that too much screen time children 10 years and younger was linked to sleeping less and affected cognitive, emotional and social development. (Carlo Jasso/AFP/Getty Images)

Mitchell says this new research series demonstrates that the risks are so high and affect such a wide population that it’s no longer ethically or morally possible for people to manage without intervention from the government or the tech companies themselves.

Some social media and tech companies have implemented tools aimed at helping parents reduce the amount of time their children spend scrolling.

Meta, the parent company of social media platforms Facebook and Instagram, agreed to implement age limits in the U.S. when it settled a multi-state class-action lawsuit for $18 billion US in August. It was described as the largest state consumer protection settlement in history outside of the Big Tobacco settlements of the 1990s.

TikTok has a default setting that limits usage to one hour for users between the ages of 13 to 17, but this setting can be changed or turned off.

The head of Snapchat’s parent company, Snap Inc., recently told BBC News the company is open to time restrictions for teens.

Steps like these, Mitchell says, are “absolutely necessary” and “should have been there from day one.”

WATCH | Some Canadians like possible social media ban, but what companies held accountable:

Parents, experts warm on proposed social media ban but want details

Ottawa’s proposed social media ban for kids under 16 has seen a generally warm response so far, but some parents and experts are concerned over a lack of details on how the government would hold social media companies accountable.

Push for tech company transparency

Shaw and his fellow researchers hope the review can help governments shape public health policy to address the potential harms that the overuse of digital media has on young people.

But he says without access to user data from big tech companies, it will be difficult to get a true picture of how much young people are interacting with digital devices and of the true toll it takes on their physical and mental well-being.

Their series of papers notes that tech giants like Meta, TikTok and Google aren’t obligated to share such data or details about how their algorithms fuel prolonged use, especially among young people.

“It’s very hard to reconcile morally, ethically, how that data cannot be available to researchers,” Mitchell said.

Digital safety legislation like the federal government’s proposed Safe Social Media Act (Bill C-34) would, if passed, compel tech platforms to be transparent and provide accredited researchers with access to electronic data related to online safety.

Bill C-34 would also force social media companies to restrict accounts for children under 16 unless the platforms can implement adequate safeguards to protect them.

The bill, which has yet to be debated in the House of Commons, has drawn criticism over whether it may violate the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

But neither Mitchell nor Shaw and his colleagues are making the case to ban children from using social media — even Children First Canada’s Chrysanthou isn’t sure it would work.

She says that in places like Australia, where age limits on social media were put in place earlier this year, many kids remain online, having found a way around restrictions or because the tech companies haven’t employed effective checks.

“Beyond some kind of regulations around screen time,” Chrysanthou said, “we want the companies and the platforms to take responsibility, to make their platforms safe.”

WATCH | How more school assignments on screens, not textbooks, may affect children:

Parents push back against screen time in schools

A growing number of Canadian parents are pushing back against the amount of screen time their kids are having in school, as textbooks and assignments migrate from page to screen.

Ontario’s medical regulator approved significant changes Tuesday to the way doctors prescribe safer supply drugs, in an effort to reduce the amount of opioids making their way to the streets.

The College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario’s board of directors will soon implement several changes to the practice of prescribing safer supply, which are medications given to people at high risk of overdose as an alternative to illicit opioids.

The board met Tuesday and passed a motion to enact the changes following a discussion on the proposals.

The college will make it mandatory for physicians to prescribe safer supply medications only in conjunction with opioid agonist therapy. The therapy uses medications such as Suboxone and methadone to treat opioid addiction.

“We are just here to protect the public and we’re here to ensure that the public is safe,” said Dr. Patrick Safieh, the board’s chair, near the end of the meeting.

“So we’re trying to prevent diversion as much as possible and at the same time, ensuring that those that do require safer supply are taking (opioid agonist therapy) so that eventually no one is on this and needs this, that’s the purpose.”

The most common form of safer supply is hydromorphone, a powerful opioid often prescribed for pain but significantly less potent than fentanyl and its derivatives that dominate the illicit drug supply chain.

Patients will now have to take the safer supply medications in front of health-care professionals, rather than take the pills home.

The college will not go ahead with an eight-week time limit for physicians to prescribe safer supply to patients it had previously considered.

Hydromorphone being diverted to black market: police

Police forces in Ontario have said diversion of patients’ prescription hydromorphone to the black market is occurring, Safieh said.

The board heard from Dr. Anil Chopra, the college’s associate registrar, who said they have also received information from governments, Addiction Medicine Canada, the addictions section of the Ontario Medical Association and from public health officers about the diversion of hydromorphone to the streets.

WATCH | Opioid-related 911 calls spiking in these Ontario cities:

911 opioid-related overdose calls spiking in these Ontario cities

CBC News broke down the data behind opioid overdose calls to paramedics in Ontario from January to May of this year and compared it to figures from the same time in 2025. The analysis showed a sharp rise in calls in four cities: Ottawa, Toronto, Thunder Bay and Hamilton. While the data doesn’t show what’s behind the increases, researchers, health-care workers and advocates suggest the toxic drug supply and the closure of supervised consumption sites in the past two years may be factors.

Chopra, Safieh and others agreed there is no data available to properly quantify where the hydromorphone on the street is coming from, but said at least part of it is from safer supply prescriptions.

Board member Peter Wiesner said he was concerned that the policy will not work for everyone, citing information sent in by the Ontario Drug Policy Research Network that shows more than 87 per cent of patients on safer supply are also on opioid agonist therapy.

“But what about the 12 per cent that it doesn’t work for?” he asked.

“We need to find, I think, some exemptions for the 12 per cent.”

Policy could have ‘outsized effect’ on rural Ontario

He said the new policy will have an outsized effect on those living in rural Ontario who are not close to a pharmacy.

Another concern he raised is for those people who are employed who are using safer supply drugs. Those people may have difficulties getting to a pharmacy every day to take their medicine if they are not allowed to take some home with them.

Safieh said the college will monitor the changes and make adjustments down the road if necessary.

The office of Health Minister Sylvia Jones has previously said she supports the changes.

Hundreds of physicians say they would stop practising medicine in Alberta if the province separates from Canada, according to a survey by the Alberta Medical Association (AMA).

Of the 1,649 physicians surveyed by the AMA, 15 per cent said they would continue living and practising in Alberta if it became an independent country, and 18 per cent were uncertain about what they would do.

The survey found 55 per cent of respondents said they would move to another Canadian province or territory, while a small percentage would retire or leave the medical field earlier than planned.

The survey results were published Tuesday in a letter released by the association’s president Dr. Heidi Fell.

Tuesday also marked the first of five days of advance voting on separation ahead of the official referendum day on Oct. 19.

‘Focused on an important question’

“As Albertans prepare to vote, the AMA is focused on an important question,” Fell said in the letter. “What could the referendum outcomes mean for patients, physicians and Alberta’s health-care system?”

Premier Danielle Smith’s United Conservative Party government has put 10 questions on the ballot.

The first nine questions are about Canada’s Constitution, as well as immigration, including whether the government should impose limitations and financial fees for newcomers and temporary workers accessing health care.

The 10th asks whether the province should stay in Canada or hold a second, binding referendum on leaving the country.

The AMA said if Albertans choose to separate, not only would the medical workforce shrink, but health care in an independent Alberta would be left in limbo.

For example, Fell said, it’s unclear how an independent Alberta would fill the health-care funding gap that would be created after it loses federal money.

“In addition to assuming federal health-care funding responsibilities, significant health-care concerns remain, including maintaining access to medicines, equipment and medical services,” she said.

The association also has questions about the effects of the immigration questions on health care, Fell said, should the government receive a mandate on them.

Fell said she wrote to the province’s health ministers last week for more clarity.

Access, coverage concerns

One of her questions is what doctors should do when someone needs necessary care but their eligibility can’t immediately be confirmed.

She has also asked how questions about eligibility should be resolved without delaying care.

“Physicians often need to make clinical decisions before a patient’s identity, residency status or coverage can be verified,” she said.

“Our position is straightforward: uncertainty about coverage should not unnecessarily delay care, and physicians and their staff should not be placed in the position of determining or enforcing a patient’s immigration or coverage status.”

Fell said the AMA hopes to hear from the government soon.

“Ultimately, we believe questions about coverage should be addressed through a reliable and timely administrative process so physicians can remain focused on clinical decisions and patients can receive the care they need.”

Hospitals Minister Adriana LaGrange’s office said it is reviewing the association’s letter.

“It would be inappropriate to speculate on the outcome of the referendum or any technical legislative, policy or program changes that may follow until Albertans have had their say,” her office said in an email Tuesday.