Stereotyped by some social media users as “iPad kids,” Generation Alpha has a bad reputation for its screen time. Born between 2010 and 2024, Gen Alpha kids didn’t develop their habits unassisted. Gen Alpha is the first generation of which all members have grown up with an abundance of technology and social media.

Screen time has several implications for people’s health. Studies have drawn connections between increased screen time and mental health conditions including depression and anxiety, as well as physical health issues like obesity.

Muppalla SK, Vuppalapati S, Pulliahgaru AR, et al. Effects of Excessive Screen Time on Child Development: An Updated Review and Strategies for Management. Cureus. 2023;15(6): e40608.

Screen time may also have implications for making medical diagnoses. Some doctors may feel compelled to attribute a young patient’s symptoms to screen time without taking the time to assess their health through appropriate questions and tests. While screen time can be an explanation for some symptoms, it is not the only explanation, nor is it an explanation for all symptoms. Hasty and potentially incorrect diagnoses based on screen time can, depending on the real underlying issue at hand, be deadly.

According to the Daily Mail, doctors in the United Kingdom overlooked a rare brain tumor in a Gen Alpha patient because they attributed his symptoms to migraines, which they suggested were a result of excessive phone usage.

Stearn E. Doctors told football-loving teen his migraines and panic attacks were caused by using his phone too much… eight months later, scans revealed a huge brain tumour. The Daily Mail. June 21, 2024.

In order to avoid misdiagnosing young patients—and downplaying severe health issues—it is important for doctors to conduct thorough examinations and actively listen to patients’ concerns. To make sure you are not leaving anything out, Clifford Segil, DO, a neurologist at Providence Saint John’s Health Center in Santa Monica, CA, recommends evaluating patients for the condition(s) you feel most worried about—and any fears they might bring up. 

“What I tell patients is ‘Whatever you're worried about, I'm going to make go away,’ and, ‘Whatever I'm worried about, I'm going to make go away,” Dr. Segil says.

“The horrible truth about medicine is you're allowed to have two things at once,” Dr. Segil says. “You're allowed to be anxious and have a brain tumor. You're allowed to be anxious and have a migraine headache.”

What younger patients are worried about, Dr. Segil says, tends to be more extreme, out-of-the-box diseases than doctors might suspect themselves. He adds that this may be due to a rise in direct-to-consumer marketing from pharmaceutical companies, health forums on sites like Reddit, or people being influenced by trending health influencers on TikTok and Instagram. 

That being said, it is important for doctors to remember that screen time does more than put patients at risk of developing physical and mental health symptoms; it also gives them an outlet for looking up symptoms. 

While some of these concerns may sound outrageous to a medical professional, it is crucial to treat patients and their fears with respect. Conducting a thorough exam and/or conversation with the patient can help you rule out—or consider—some diagnoses and can give them assurance that you respect them and their health concerns.

“As a physician, I always encourage people to go looking on the internet and look for other diagnoses,” Dr. Segil says, noting that some doctors discourage this. “People are going to have more access to Reddit, Google, and AI, and it's smarter to embrace that this generation is going to come in having done research on the internet than to ignore it.”