\n<\/p>\n
A<\/span> 16-year-old boy and his mum went to see their GP, Dr Rangan Chatterjee, on a busy Monday afternoon. That weekend, the boy had been at A&E after an attempt at self-harm, and in his notes the hospital doctor had recommended the teenager be prescribed antidepressants. \u201cI thought: \u2018Wait a minute, I can\u2019t just start a 16-year-old on antidepressants,\u2019\u201d says Chatterjee. He wanted to understand what was going on in the boy\u2019s life.<\/p>\n They talked for a while, and Chatterjee asked him about his screen use, which turned out to be high. \u201cI said: \u2018I think your screen use, particularly in the evenings, might be impacting your mental wellbeing.\u2019\u201d Chatterjee helped the boy and his mother set up a routine where digital devices and social media went off an hour before bed, gradually extending the screen-free period over six weeks. After two months, he says the boy stopped needing to see him. A few months after that, his mother wrote Chatterjee a note to say her son had been transformed \u2013 he was engaging with his friends and trying new activities. He was, she said, like a different boy from the one who had ended up in hospital.<\/p>\n Chatterjee believes that \u201cthe widespread adoption of screens into our children\u2019s lives is the most urgent public health issue of our time\u201d. He was never very political, he says. He is the affable host of a successful health podcast, Feel Better, Live More, and his books strike an optimistic, inspiring tone \u2013 but on this issue he is passionate, his frustration obvious. \u201cI think successive governments have been very weak here, and they are failing a whole generation of children. I think they\u2019ve already failed a generation of children.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/span>\u2018I\u2019m not judging parents.\u2019<\/span> Photograph: Posed by model; Olga Dobrovolska\/Getty Images<\/p>\n Chatterjee saw that young patient more than 10 years ago, and since then children\u2019s screen use has soared. To clinicians, he says, the harm \u201chas been obvious for over a decade\u201d. This has led to a swell of action, from Australia\u2019s social media ban for under-16s to Spain\u2019s just-announced plans for one. In the UK, grassroots parents\u2019 organisations such as Smartphone Free Childhood and SafeScreens want the UK to follow suit. Chatterjee, who is involved with campaign organisation Close Screens Open Minds over the proliferation of \u201ced tech\u201d in schools, believes the legal age for using social media should be 18, as with gambling and access to pornography. \u201cAs a society, we have safeguards in place to protect children,\u201d Chatterjee says. \u201cAt the moment, we are in the middle of a widespread experiment that no one consciously signed up to.\u201d<\/p>\n Tech bosses, he says, have had too much influence over deciding \u201cwhat\u2019s best for our children. If we\u2019re expecting Elon Musk or Mark Zuckerberg to regulate technology better for our children\u2019s wellbeing, we\u2019re being, frankly, delusional. Their whole business model wants more people on their devices for longer.\u201d Adults struggle with screen use, he points out. \u201cOur children have got no chance. Their prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain where we exercise rational decision-making, is not fully developed till the age of 25.\u201d<\/p>\n Every additional hour of screen time increases the risk of myopia by 21% in children<\/p>\n He rattles off the harms, which include the effect on children\u2019s mental health and anxiety. \u201cWe know it\u2019s affecting their sleep.\u201d It is affecting posture, and causes neck and shoulder pain. For younger children, it causes language delay. \u201cThere\u2019s research coming out now saying it\u2019s affecting their eyesight. Every additional hour of screen time increases the risk of myopia by 21% and in children already diagnosed with myopia, an extra hour increases risk of progression by 54%. I think we\u2019re raising a generation of children who have low self-worth, who don\u2019t know how to conduct conversations. The content children have been exposed to is really alarming \u2013 10% of nine-year-olds have seen pornography, and 27% of 11-year-olds.\u201d He adds that there is a strong chance that the first time someone goes on a pornographic website, they will be served images of violence: one French study found that up to 90% of online porn featured verbal, physical and sexual violence against women.<\/p>\n We\u2019re speaking over video call, Chatterjee at his home studio where he makes his podcast. He barely stops for breath. He is warm and likable, and seems to have the supreme self-assurance that all successful podcasters develop. But he stresses that he doesn\u2019t blame parents (or teachers, who are dealing with the encroachment of \u201ced tech\u201d, the increased use of devices and software, in schools). Screen use is higher in children in lower socioeconomic groups. \u201cPeople are living stressed-out lives. There are a lot of families who are struggling with the cost of living.\u201d Screens are, he says, \u201can easy babysitter. And I say it with compassion, I get that.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/span>Screen-based homework \u2018should be abolished immediately\u2019, says Chatterjee. <\/span> Photograph: Posed by model; MoMo Productions\/Getty Images<\/p>\n Chatterjee\u2019s own children are 13 and 15. They have smartphones, but with almost all apps, including the internet browser, disabled. They are not allowed to access social media. \u201cI\u2019m not judging other parents, because I do understand the pressures. For me, because I\u2019ve seen so many suicidal, depressed, anxious teenagers \u2013 and I could directly see a correlation between that and their screen and social media use \u2013 I thought I cannot allow my children on to these platforms.\u201d<\/p>\n He and his wife have always had open conversations with their children and he says: \u201cSo far, it\u2019s been fine. But I think they may be the only two kids in their school not on social media. It\u2019s very hard for most parents to do that.\u201d Chatterjee has already complained to the headteacher about screen-based homework, which \u201cshould be abolished immediately\u201d. Bright light from screens in the evening, he says, is wreaking havoc on teenagers\u2019 sleep. He is always turning down the screen brightness on his kids\u2019 laptops when they\u2019re doing homework, and screens have to go off at least an hour before bed.<\/p>\n Chatterjee stopped practising as a GP nearly two years ago. He misses it, he says, but he realised he could reach many more people with his broadcasting work than he could with 10-minute appointments at his surgery (he is also visiting professor of health education and communication at the University of Chester). His broadcasting career took off after he made the 2015 BBC series Doctor in the House, and now his podcast has had more than 350m listens, with 1.3 million subscribers to his YouTube channel. He is a big advocate of lifestyle change, which gives Chatterjee something of a holistic air.<\/p>\n <\/span>Chatterjee with, from left, Serena, Pratiksha, and Sandeep in the BBC TV series Doctor in the House in 2015.<\/span> Photograph: Jude Edgington\/BBC\/Studio Lambert<\/p>\n I\u2019m a fan of his podcast, though I switch off when he gives airtime to \u201cexperts\u201d who sit at the wackier end of the spectrum, such as Joe Dispenza, who advocates manifestation, says woolly things about how energy and the \u201cquantum field\u201d can cure disease, and claims to have healed his broken back using thought. Chatterjee says he decided to pause practising medicine and put his attention instead to raising awareness because: \u201cWe\u2019re in a health landscape now where 80 to 90% of what doctors see is driven by our collective modern lifestyles \u2026 Whether we\u2019re talking about obesity, type 2 diabetes, anxiety, depression, insomnia, these things are downstream from the way we live our lives.\u201d<\/p>\n Chatterjee had become increasingly frustrated that the NHS wasn\u2019t geared up for preventive health. \u201cIf you\u2019ve had a heart attack, if you\u2019ve been knocked down in the road, you don\u2019t want lifestyle change, you want the best in modern medicine.\u201d But for many of the health problems doctors see these days, Chatterjee thinks we need a different approach. \u201cAre doctors the best people to see some of the issues that are coming in if they\u2019re driven by lifestyle? What would it look like if every NHS practice in the country had two or three health coaches who also worked there? We need a new approach for prevention.\u201d (This might be the moment to add that Chatterjee is about to launch an individualised programme offering blood tests and health coaching, yours for \u00a3249 a year.) What he would like to see is the NHS separated from politics. \u201cIf we\u2019re really going to transform it, we need a 30-year plan, not a five-year plan.\u201d<\/p>\n Chatterjee\u2019s late father, Tarun, was a doctor who came to the UK in 1962 from India to work in the NHS (his mother followed about 10 years later). In Chatterjee\u2019s latest book, Happy Mind, Happy Life, he wrote about the racism his father faced in his career. \u201cMy dad\u2019s mentality, which I think is common in a certain generation of immigrants from India in the 1960s, is we don\u2019t complain, we put our head down and get on with things.\u201d Tarun had worked in obstetrics and gynaecology, and was a skilled surgeon who trained other doctors \u2013 people who, year after year, were promoted to consultant positions ahead of him. To become a consultant, he had to move to the less popular specialism of genitourinary medicine.<\/p>\n <\/span>\u2018We need a new approach for prevention\u2019 \u2026 Chatterjee at the podcast microphone.<\/span> Photograph: Christopher Thomond\/The Guardian<\/p>\n Chatterjee remembers his father working relentlessly. \u201cPeople like my dad are a net positive to this country. He worked as a consultant in the day, he did GP house calls at night. He worked hard, he paid taxes.\u201d It\u2019s the same all over the NHS, he says. \u201cThere are so many phenomenal staff who have come from overseas.\u201d<\/p>\n For most of his life, Chatterjee says he absorbed his dad\u2019s mentality: \u201cYou don\u2019t complain, you just get on with things.\u201d In late 2018, however, at a meeting at his publishing house, someone (not an employee of the publisher) said that a major retailer had not stocked his first book because \u201cthey already had a book on their shelves by an Indian doctor. I remember hearing it. I didn\u2019t say anything. I felt uncomfortable, I think a few people felt uncomfortable, but we just continued our meeting.\u201d He went over it on the train home. The term \u201cIndian doctor\u201d is not accurate. \u201cI was born and brought up in the UK. There was a lot of guilt and shame that came up for me when I thought: I didn\u2019t say anything.\u201d (He did later bring it up with his publisher.)<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t think people understand, unless you\u2019ve faced discrimination or you\u2019re maybe from an immigrant family, how toxic some of this language is,\u201d says Chatterjee. \u201cThe stuff that I\u2019m seeing now on social media, I\u2019m thinking, are we really seeing this in 2026? But we\u2019ve now got political figures all over the world who are very happy to say inflammatory things, which then gives members of the public licence to go: \u2018If the person in charge is talking about things this way, I can talk about things this way.\u2019\u201d He is an optimist, he says. \u201cI always believe in humanity, that things will be OK, but I don\u2019t like some of the things that are going on at the moment.\u201d<\/p>\n Chatterjee moved back to his home town of Wilmslow, Cheshire, to help care for his father, who was diagnosed with lupus in his late 50s, which caused kidney failure. When his father died in 2013, \u201cthat was a massive, significant moment for me, like it is for many people\u201d. He started to re-evaluate his life. He remembers his childhood as very happy, but it was also \u2013 familiar to many children of immigrant parents \u2013 typified by a pressure to succeed. \u201cIf I ever got 19 out of 20 in a test, their first question was always: \u2018What did you get wrong?\u2019<\/p>\n <\/span>\u2018The No 1 factor for long-term health, happiness and longevity is the quality of your relationships.\u2019<\/span> Photograph: Christopher Thomond\/The Guardian<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t want this to come across as blaming my parents. Back then, there was quite a lot of discrimination and the way their child doesn\u2019t have to face the struggles they had is to be a straight-A student. I get that, but I think I took on, as a child, the belief that I was only really loved if I got top grades. On one hand, that\u2019s great, it drives you to work hard, you go into a prestigious profession. But I realised that for all my so-called success, I wasn\u2019t actually that happy or content.\u201d<\/p>\n He started to separate his sense of self-worth from his achievements. \u201cI realised that where my happiness comes from is the unmeasurables in life.\u201d This was in looking after his father, and now his mother, who lives five minutes away and whom he sees most days.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m happily married for 18 years. I\u2019ve got children who I spend a lot of quality time with.\u201d He\u2019s not saying that to sound superior, he says. \u201cI\u2019m saying I\u2019ve understood that actually, I\u2019m prepared to have less \u2018societal success\u2019 if necessary, in order to make sure my relationships with my mum, my wife, my children, my friends, are front and centre. We know from the research that the No 1 factor for long-term health, happiness and longevity is the quality of your relationships.\u201d<\/p>\n There isn\u2019t, he says, \u201ca scorecard for that. I really think we get seduced in the modern world by metrics.\u201d<\/p>\n At 48, he says, he has never been happier. After a lot of \u201cinner work\u201d, Chatterjee has identified his values, and tries to live by them, which sounds as if he has been spending too much time with American wellbeing podcasters, even if it also makes sense.<\/p>\n \u201cI think the more aligned you get, the more you start to live in harmony with your values,\u201d he says, \u201cthe easier life becomes.\u201d Sometimes his work-life balance isn\u2019t right, and his main health vice is coffee. \u201cIf you\u2019d asked me six or seven years ago, I would say, when I\u2019m stressed, I will go to sugar. It wasn\u2019t that I didn\u2019t know about the problems with excess sugar use, but knowledge isn\u2019t what we need. A lot of these behaviours come as a way of soothing emotions.\u201d<\/p>\n He brings the conversation back to what screen use is doing to all of us, but especially to children. \u201cOne thing I worry about is that we start to lose touch with our emotions and how we feel. We\u2019re distracted constantly. And everything good in our lives comes from our ability to be present \u2013 our relationships, how we feel about ourselves. We have to be able to be present. And these devices are training distraction.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A 16-year-old boy and his mum went to see their GP, Dr Rangan Chatterjee, on a busy Monday afternoon. That weekend, the boy had been at A&E after an attempt at self-harm, and in his notes the hospital doctor had recommended the teenager be prescribed antidepressants. \u201cI thought: \u2018Wait a minute, I can\u2019t just start<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":44582,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[7518,23124,37,580,205,1031,177,23123,1560,204,286,4251,6200],"class_list":{"0":"post-44581","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"tag-banning","9":"tag-chatterjee","10":"tag-health","11":"tag-issue","12":"tag-media","13":"tag-mental","14":"tag-public","15":"tag-rangan","16":"tag-screen","17":"tag-social","18":"tag-time","19":"tag-urgent","20":"tag-wellbeing"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44581","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=44581"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44581\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/44582"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=44581"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=44581"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=44581"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}