The past two decades have seen a significant increase in mental health problems among young people.
Sydney:
Although increased use of social media and smartphones is often blamed for the rise in mental health problems among young people, the reality is not so simple.
We are in the midst of a mental health crisis.
Two new studies show Americans are more worried about their mental health than their physical health.
In the UK, research from King’s College London found that young people across all age groups agree that young people are struggling with their mental health and that their parents are to blame for the coronavirus pandemic. Australia’s mental health services are in a “perpetual state of crisis”.
However, this trend has been around for some time, and mental illness has increased significantly over the past two decades.
In Australia, the surge in psychological distress (a common indicator of mental ill-health) is being driven by Millennials and Gen Z.
Latest Australian data shows 40% of 16-24 year olds (Gen Z) have experienced a mental health disorder in the past 12 months, up from 26% in 2007.
The rise in distress among young people has parents, policy makers and researchers concerned, with young people themselves ranking mental health as one of their top three personal concerns.
While there is no national data on young people, a three-state survey of 6,639 Australians aged 11 to 14 found that 16% reported moderate to severe anxiety and 17% reported moderate anxiety. reported moderate to severe depression, and 14% reported having depression. High psychological distress.
The important question to answer is: what’s behind it?
The advent of smartphones and social media is one of the biggest changes and challenges that young people have adapted to.
Surprisingly, there is no recent nationally representative data on youth smartphone ownership, but the survey cited above found that in year 7 (2019), 85% owned a smartphone; by year (2022), it had increased to 93%.
This increase in smartphone usage is increasing in parallel with the explosion of social media.
In 2013, 97% of Australian youth were already using social media (on any device). A 2017 study found that teens spend an average of more than three hours a day on social media on at least four different social media platforms.
When we look at these two trends side by side, it may seem like we have found a solution to youth mental health. It’s about limiting screen time.
The restrictions come as the United Nations calls for a global ban on smartphones in schools. Currently, states in Australia ban smartphones in classrooms.
In the US state of Florida, a new law bans children under 14 from using social media platforms and requires parental consent for 14 and 15-year-olds. In the UK, parents are campaigning for an age limit on smartphone ownership, while China is considering banning internet access on mobile devices.
But while reducing smartphone use in school may reduce focus on learning, is reducing screen time the ticket to broadly improving youth mental health? The jury is out on whether. The same goes for time spent on social media.
It cannot be concluded that the more time spent on social media, the worse your mental health will be.
Adolescents often behave very differently on social media, so limiting your research to the amount of time you spend, or simply acting to reduce the amount of time you spend, is a straightforward approach.
Evidence increasingly shows that the types of interactions and content that young people experience on social media is likely to matter.
We know that online experiences can be both enriching and harmful.
A recent study led by Australia’s eSafety Commission found that four in 10 young people had experienced at least one negative interaction online in the past six months, while nine in 10 had I took positive action.
We also know that social media may be the first and only place young people seek health advice and support, which can be beneficial or harmful depending on the accuracy of the information. Masu.
What do young people think? Researchers from the University of Sydney asked a diverse group of young people from PREMISE and the Matilda Center’s Youth Advisory Committee what they thought about the relationship between social media and growing mental health problems.
Members believe that social media imposes unrealistic lifestyle and beauty standards, increases exposure to distressing news and highly polarized social and political viewpoints, and impairs one’s ability to tolerate boredom. It said it could amplify existing problems with young people’s mental health by reducing or displacing other forms of active leisure. .
But they also emphasized that social media can be a platform for fostering connections, providing a means to earn a living, and tailoring mental health education to young people.
Overall, they felt that social media was neither the root cause nor the solution to growing youth mental health problems.
Where does this leave us? Given that smartphones and social media are here to stay, it is essential to take a harm-minimization approach and provide youth with the tools to use social media in mentally healthy and safe ways. .
Australia has national guidelines that recommend limiting recreational screen time for young people to two hours per day, but we must move away from focusing on time spent.
To do this, we need to critically evaluate online content, respond to cyberbullying, protect our body image, and manage our safety (preventing contact from strangers, reporting harmful content and interactions, etc.) We need approaches that equip young people with the skills to facilitate direct connections, including: Balance the time you spend on social media with other health-promoting activities, and recognize and respond if your social media use is intruding too much on your life.
There is also a clear place for balanced and reasonable parental supervision.
But young people, their families, and schools should not be solely responsible.
Social media providers need to do more to protect the health of young users. This can be caused by government regulation or pressure. For example, asking Tinder to do more to tackle violence against women.
However, we hope that we will soon see social media companies take responsibility and work with experts to investigate and minimize the damage that occurs on their platforms.
(Text: Originally published below) creative commons by 360 information)
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
