When we speak about the mental health of young people today, it can feel like an overwhelming topic. The news cycle reminds us on a semi-regular basis that today’s youth are facing a mental health crisis. It can be difficult to pinpoint why mental health challenges are increasing in this age group, with access to new technologies, social media, growing up in COVID-19 pandemic and changing societal and economic pressures all suggested potential contributing factors. Understanding how these factors could be affecting young people’s mental health is complex, especially as technologies evolve and develop at rapid speed.
Many parents and carers have concerns about what their children have access to via smart phones and other devices but find the rapid development of technology, and constant stream of information telling them what they should be concerned about, overwhelming. Government policy and regulations are gradually being developed to protect users, especially children and young people, as law makers identify concerns with new technology. However, regulating technology and social media to comprehensively protect the mental health of young people appears a far-off goal at this current time.
Although it is important to understand how technology is developing, what our young people have access to and to regulate it appropriately, teaching them to be critical and discerning consumers of what they view online and understand how to keep themselves safe is also vital.
Our Esteem programme of lessons takes this approach. Instead of advising young people not to engage with certain technologies and social media, which is unrealistic, Esteem lessons attempt to engage young people in discussions and activities to help them critically consider how they use technology. Esteem lessons hold the core value of equipping and empowering young people to make healthy choices about their relationships and sexual wellbeing. They provide young people with tools and strategies to choose what they engage with and protect their mental health in different contexts, which is a valuable life skill.
As an example, in a lesson on explicit image sharing, we clearly outline the law for young people and explain it is in place to protect them – not to limit how they engage with their peers or to punish them if they make a mistake. We then go through an activity where they sort images of manikins in various situations, into ‘safe to share’, ‘safe to send’ and ‘not safe at all’.
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This activity helps young people consider the sort of images they share online and the potential consequences to doing so. During this activity, as educators, we often see that many young people are aware of relational damage and harm that their peers can cause by sharing inappropriate images but often have less awareness of the predatory behaviour of adults online, or the longevity and lack of control they have over images once they have shared it with someone else. This lesson helps young people to critically consider what they share online, understand that the law isn’t intended to limit what they do but protect them, and equip them with tools to respond if they or their friends find themselves in a compromising situation.
If you are interested in delivering these sorts of sessions for your context, whether that is a school or a youth club, please contact our team to find out more. We offer training to equip you to have these conversations, or our schools team are happy to support you by delivering sessions in person.