Expert Witness Journal Issue 67 June/July 2026 - Flipbook - Page 41
tolerance,
withdrawal
symptoms,
mood
modi昀椀cation, and loss of control. Studies have linked
heavy use to elevated rates of anxiety, depression,
poor sleep, and increased rates of self-harm.
underwriters should be examining the adequacy of
their cover in light of this trend.
Practical steps for underwriters
The UK’s Online Safety Act 2023 imposes duties on
platforms to mitigate harms arising from addictive
design, signalling growing regulatory acceptance of
the addiction framing.
1.
Horizon scan actively: Assign responsibility
for monitoring clinical, academic and legal
developments in this space.
2.
Review policy wordings: Consider whether
existing mental health, cognitive impairment
and addiction exclusions are adequate.
3.
Engage actuarial teams: Examine whether
current pricing captures emerging mental
health and cognitive decline risk in younger
cohorts.
4.
Monitor litigation: Keep a close watch on social
media personal injury litigation in the United
Kingdom and internationally. Early coverage
analysis of D&O and product liability policies is
advisable.
5.
Engage with commercial clients: Encourage
insureds in high-screen-use industries to
develop digital wellbeing and occupational
health frameworks.
What does this mean for insurers?
Life and critical illness
If cognitive decline attributable to technology
use presents earlier in life than traditional risk
models anticipate, current actuarial tables may
underestimate future exposure. Underwriters should
consider whether application processes adequately
capture relevant risk factors in younger applicants.
The established link between social media addiction
and mental ill-health including depression, anxiety,
self-harm may also carry pricing implications.
Health, income protection and PMI
The mental health consequences of social media
addiction are already driving increased claims across
these lines. Disrupted sleep linked to screen use has
also been associated with elevated cardiovascular
and metabolic risk. As more studies occur, the
physical health implications may prove broader than
currently appreciated.
Employers’ liability
Agewise
Medicolegal
Experts
As awareness of digital addiction grows, there is
a realistic prospect of employers’ liability claims
from employees who argue their employer failed
to manage workplace technology use in a way
that protected their mental and cognitive health.
Underwriters should be alert to this as an emerging
occupational health risk, particularly in sectors
where intensive screen use is inherent to the role.
Agewise Medicolegal Experts provide geriatricians, old age psychiatrists, general
practitioners and elderly care nursing experts to instructing solicitors and barristers
to assist the Courts in matters of liability, causation, condition and prognosis,
professional negligence, personal injury and issues around mental capacity and in
particular testamentary capacity.
Professional indemnity
Our consultants, GPs and nursing experts all have a long experience of working in
the NHS and are fully up to date in current practice. Dr Dan Lee is the Principal
Geriatrician and has over 20 years of working as an NHS consultant in the Royal
Free Hospital, London, a busy London teaching hospital, as well as working in
community based multidisciplinary frailty teams. He now works in the Cleveland
Clinic London as a consultant on the Acute Medical Assessment Unit.
If digital dementia represents a genuine
degradation of cognitive function in working-age
professionals (including impaired memory, reduced
concentration, and poorer decision-making) of
which the downstream risk is professional error.
There is potential for a broad pattern of increasing
human error claims in high-cognition professions.
All our clinicians have many years of experience in managing acute illness and
disability in older people as well as experience of producing medicolegal reports.
They have also all also received formal training in medicolegal report writing. In
addition, we have subspecialist expertise in life expectancy estimation, dementia,
depression, mental capacity, care home standards of care and stroke. We take
instruction both nationally and internationally and will assess clients in their own
residence should they be too frail to travel to our private rooms.
D&O and product liability
Thousands of personal injury claims have been
consolidated against large technology companies
in United States of America litigation. Similar
trends could emerge in the United Kingdom and
the European Union. Directors and O昀케cers of
technology companies face growing exposure as
platforms are increasingly characterised as having
knowingly deployed harmful design features. D&O
EXPERT WITNESS JOURNAL
Contact: Ruth Kriegel
Telephone: 020 7117 2551 | Email: admin@agewiseml.co.uk
Website: www.agewiseml.co.uk
Address:
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Highbury Stadium Square
London, N5 1FJ
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JUNE 2026
