WHO calls for ‘immediate and sustained action’ to protect young people from risk of addiction

Having become essential and omnipresent in our lives, the use of the telephone, from the street to the home via transport, occupies an increasing place in our daily lives. As explained by Professor Amine Benyamina, head of the psychiatry and addiction department at Paul-Brousse hospital: “The phone, we often use it as soon as we wake up, it is the latter that allows us to wake up, but some, even at night when opening their eyes, will take a look, just in case”.

While everyone is concerned by the use of social networks, the WHO is now sounding the alarm regarding the youngest, particularly Europeans. In 2022, due to the consumption of social networks, 11% of adolescents presented symptoms similar to those of addiction, four points more than in 2018. The WHO is therefore calling for immediate and sustained measures from the public authorities to enable young people to develop a healthier relationship with the digital environment.