Social media is great but must be safe for children
First published in Red Box on the 15th July
There’s no doubt that the internet has transformed the world around us, especially for children and young people.
The online world offers incredible opportunities for children to learn and play. Social media allows them to be part of a virtual community with friends who may live far away but share similar interests. Distance is no longer a barrier to communication.
And for children who are struggling the internet is a place where they can express and share their thoughts and beliefs, access support and reduce isolation.
But while the internet clearly offers many benefits for almost all children on a daily basis, it also carries serious new risks, especially for the most vulnerable children, from cyberbullying to gaming addiction and online grooming.
The rise of mobile devices means parents and carers are able to stay in touch with children remotely which improves safety. But it also means children’s relationships are now increasingly being conducted online, often unchaperoned and hidden from view.
Parents and carers are not always aware of what children are exposed to online — including the impact of idealised body images and inappropriate sexual content, which can affect children’s mental health and understanding of healthy relationships.
Just as we step in to keep children safe and healthy both physically and mentally in the offline world, we need to make sure we are doing the same online.
We don’t allow children to access pornographic material in shops, so we need to make sure they don’t accidentally stumble across it online.
We’ve long known that we’re facing a crisis in children’s mental health, with one in eight children aged between five and 19 in England having at least one mental health disorder.
At the same time, children are, on average, spending almost five hours a day on social media. Many experts agree mental health problems have increased during the same period that screen time has also increased. But we don’t yet understand the relationship between mental health and social media, or the impact of ‘growing up digital’.
That’s why it’s important that charities, the Government and social media companies work together to improve our understanding.
Last month Barnardo’s released a report ‘Left to their own devices: children’s social media and mental health’ which revealed that children as young as five are at risk of becoming addicted to social media.
By this age they may also have been exposed to unsuitable or harmful materials online or have been victims of cyberbullying, even though most platforms don’t allow children to sign up for accounts until they are 13.
The risks grow as children reach puberty. Nearly 80 per cent of the frontline workers Barnardo’s surveyed said they have worked with 11–15-year-olds who have self-harmed or attempted suicide because of cyberbullying.
Shockingly, one 11-year-old girl whose father was in prison, was driven to try and take her own life by cyberbullies. She had already experienced terrible childhood trauma and this was exacerbated following the online torment. Thankfully, she is now being supported by Barnardo’s, but it should never have reached this stage in the first place.
Across the UK, Barnardo’s supports almost 300,000 children, young people, parents and carers across more than 1000 services. Many of these children have experienced unimaginable trauma, including neglect, sexual abuse, criminal exploitation, and arriving in the UK as a refugee.
We know that young people who have experienced childhood trauma are more likely to be susceptible to the negative impacts of social media on their mental health, because they are less likely to have a strong family to support them, they are more likely to be isolated from friends or wider support networks, and they may already be suffering from low self-esteem, anxiety or depression.
There can be no doubt that social media can be a force of good, but we just don’t know enough about its impact on children’s mental health, particularly on vulnerable groups.
Left to their own devices provides a snapshot of what Barnardo’s services are seeing, but more research must be commissioned to help us better understand the impact of social media.
Currently, most studies on this issue look at how social media affects particular age groups and does not take life experiences into account.
We need to rectify this and focus specifically on the experiences of vulnerable children and young people. Societies are judged on how they treat their most vulnerable members. If the system works for children who have been in the care system, suffered abuse, and have mental health difficulties, it will work for everyone else too.
It is the responsibility of Governments to keep harmful content out of children’s reach using tools such as regulation and by holding internet companies to account by ensuring their platforms are as safe as possible for young people.
We also need to make sure all children, parents and carers have access to high quality education and guidance on using social media safely. The current Government has taken important steps forward in improving access to specialist mental health services and early intervention in schools. But there’s a still a long way to go.
And it’s not all down to the Government. Mental health and wellbeing need to be ‘everybody’s business’, we all have a role to play. Tech companies need to make products ‘safe by default’ for vulnerable young people. Charities like Barnardo’s must continue to provide vital services and reach out to children who need us most. And all agencies — from schools to police to local authorities need to work to prioritising keeping children safe, happy and healthy, so they can work towards a positive future.
The world is changing faster than ever before, and as Government and charities, we need to stay ahead of the curve. Children today can’t afford to wait while we play catch up. So we must act quickly to protect children’s wellbeing and mental health — both on and offline.
