Signs your child may be addicted to social media

By Amy Reast

An expert who treats teens hooked on social media has revealed the most dangerous app — and how to spot if your kids are truly addicted.

Nick Dunkley, 47, is operations manager for UK Addiction Treatment (UKAT), the biggest private addiction treatment provider.

He said the increasing numbers of under-18s accessing treatment exhibit the same symptoms as people struggling with addictions to alcohol, drugs and gambling.

He said while WhatsApp was the "sleeping giant" of the apps hooking kids, TikTok was the "worst."

The expert warned parents symptoms that are "written off as teenage behavior" could actually be a symptom of a social media addiction, including avoiding eye contact, dismissiveness, physical agitation, lack of sleep, worsening eyesight, poor daily hygiene and lack of attention span.

Earlier this week the U.K. government announced it would ban under-16s from accessing a range of social media platforms with the ban coming into force in spring 2027.

UKAT said pre-COVID, in 2019, around one in 10 people treated by them for substance addiction also had a social media dependency — by 2026, that figure was one in three.

Dunkley said: "To see the acute symptoms, just try to take a phone off a 15-year-old.

"It's the lack of eye contact, struggling to engage in face-to-face conversations, physical agitation and their eyes darting to where their phones are.

"These might be written off as teenage behavior but it becomes pronounced.

"Also the lack of sleep from doom-scrolling, headaches, worsening eyesight, decreased attention span and decreased IQ.

"It's addiction, pure and simple — a behavior you can't control, a pattern of use, and withdrawal.

"We know the harm social media does for children — now this ban enables parents and schools to say no without the peer pressure."

He said under-18s coming to UKAT's rehab for social media addictions are sometimes so hooked that they sneak in second phones, refuse to surrender their devices, lie, or outright refuse to attend.

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Dunkley predicts the ban will be accepted by everyone within a few months and the young people will "move on and forget quick."

Withdrawals are to be expected, including mood changes, agitation and arguments — but he said parents and schools should support the young people through that.

He suggested the biggest threat to the ban's success will be parents bending the rules to allow their children access when they shouldn't have it.

He said: "WhatsApp is probably a sleeping giant because it's so widely used, but I wouldn't say it's social media in a true sense.

"For me, TikTok is the worst — these short, sharp videos made of instant dopamine. People flicking through and not absorbing anything."

He said enforcing the ban may be a struggle for young adults who are parents, and may have issues themselves.

But parents should use this ban to empower themselves to say no to their children wanting to use social media, he said.

He said: "It's like a stigma because social media is so entrenched and ingrained.

"But who are the people benefiting from this content, really?

"Social media addiction presents the same way as other addictions, when you bring it back to things like substance abuse.

"It manifests the same way — but that conversation makes people uncomfortable.

"But the opposite of human connection is — social media.

"I know what I'd rather my child be doing rather than living in a world that doesn't exist, and aspiring to things they can never reach."

He added: "I'm hopeful. Give it six months or a year, and it won't be this massive impact on the youth — they will bounce back.

"We're not depriving them now — we already did, now we're trying to give them their childhood back."