'The digital minefield' of social media is harming our children's mental health
4 min read
Children are ‘navigating the digital minefield alone’ and it’s putting their mental health at risk, says Alex Chalk MP.
Today I am holding a debate in the House of Commons on the impact of social media on the mental health of young people. Perhaps as a parent of young children I should declare an interest, but it’s something that I suspect worries every parent and carer watching their children grow up in a fast-changing digital age. The sheer pace of on-line change can leave today’s parents feeling adrift. It also means that many children are navigating the digital minefield alone.
As the MP for Cheltenham, I see the growing problem of poor adolescent mental health all around. It’s there in the brave teenagers who come to my surgery to talk about the availability of talking therapies. It’s there in the growing workload of staff at the Brownhills eating disorder clinic. And it’s there in the statistics from Teens in Crisis, which in 2013 received 20-30 self-referrals per month and now receives 70.
A growing body of evidence suggests a key, and growing, factor is the excessive use of social media. According to the Office of National Statistics’ 2015 publication, Measuring National Well-being: Insights into children’s mental health and well-being, children who spend three hours or more per normal school day on social media sites are more than twice as likely to suffer from poor mental health.
It stands to reason when you think about it. MentalHelp.net found that 95% of teenagers who use social media have witnessed cyberbullying and 33% have been victims themselves. Bullying has always been with us. But it’s the power of social media to magnify the impact that is so striking. Whereas children in the past could physically escape their tormentors, nowadays social media makes that impossible. Platforms like Facebook and Instagram bring bullies into the bedroom.
And then there’s the ‘compare and despair’ syndrome. Young people (particularly girls) have long been vulnerable to negative body image from magazines and television. But social media has dramatically ramped up that pressure. Studies such as NetTweens: The Internet and Body Image Concerns in Preteenage Girls looked at the effect on young people in Australia, and found that social media images had a significantly greater impact than traditional media.
There’s also the more prosaic issue of sleep deprivation, caused by young people using their smartphones late at night. A 2015 study of Scottish secondary school students found that greater overall social media usage was linked to poorer sleep quality, which in turn is a risk factor for depression and anxiety.
I have called this debate in the House of Commons to shine a light on this issue. I also think we need to focus as much on prevention as we do on cure. Much of the public debate on young people’s mental health has revolved around the need to allocate more NHS resources. I get that and support it. But we shouldn’t forget to tackle the root causes too. We need to improve resilience in our young people, particularly in preparing them for the world of social media. That should include providing information to parents and carers, most of whom are not digital natives.
Social media platforms also need to face up to their responsibilities. We rightly hold head teachers accountable for bullying that takes place in their schools. Social media platforms also need to take their fair share of responsibility for what takes place on their own (digital) premises.
It’s high time MPs engaged with this vital issue. We need to help ensure the next generation is better prepared for the digital deluge to come.
Alex Chalk is the Conservative Member of Parliament for Cheltenham
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