❗ Children aged 11–12 who are cyberbullied are over 2.6 times more likely to report suicide attempts.
What’s more, they’re over 2 times more likely to use substances the following year. *
As parents, we need to prioritise our kids’ safety over winning their approval by keeping them off social media until they’re 16.
Along with the obvious concerns about being exposed to inappropriate content, research has also suggested that social media may be contributing to a rise in ADHD due to damaging children’s ability to focus. **
Parenting in a digital age can feel so overwhelming because we’re the first generation who’s really had to deal with this. But it’s our duty as adults to step up and prioritise the development, safety and mental health of our kids by putting strong boundaries in place (watch ‘Adolescence’ on Netflix if you need some context).
The first step is to email your MP to tell them to support raising the age limit for harmful social media to 16. The deadline is Monday, so don’t put this off as it takes a couple of minutes, and too important to overlook.
The current government approach is to strongly push school to go phone-free, but this still being debated. What we can do in the meantime is click the link below and share it, so we have the best chance of improving the welfare and safety of the next generation.
I really believe this is our responsibility to act: 👇 https://healthprofessionalsforsaferscreens.eaction.org.uk/raisetheage
*source: World Health Organisation
** source: The Guardian
