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Social media can help young people connect with others, build a sense of their identity, and provide an empowering platform to advocate and express their opinions.
We can also harness social media to promote health information, help create bespoke supportive spaces for ‘at-risk’ or marginalized young people, and increase awareness about support available.
However, social media can distract young people from essential elements of their life (e.g. sleep, family, school), and expose them to bullying, increased peer pressure, harmful content and unrealistic expectations.
Harm can be done through specific content, but also the ‘dose’ of social media people are exposed to (e.g. how much time they spend and how often). Studies show young people who spend 3 or more hours a day with more than three ‘sessions’ per day are at heightened risk for mental health problems.
• Get a plan, structure and boundaries around how much time
• Role model good social media/device use
• Plan in family and friend connection time and ‘green space’ time (time spent outside)
• Discuss what is and isn’t safe/ok in terms of content and decide on consequences for breaching
• Encourage open discussion about the role of social media, the impacts and how the kids feel (social media vs ‘real life’) whether it be around body image, activities, language, attitudes etc
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