Both the medical and teaching professions are learning more about the damaging effects of ‘sexting’ and cyber bullying. They are also learning how to deal with the impact that new technologies are having on teenagers. 

Leading experts including Cyber safety expert Susan McLean, adolescent psychologist Dr Michael Carr-Gregg and medical professional Dr Ramesh Manocha have come together for a series of seminars being held all around Australia.

These Seminars, organised by HealthEd, bring teachers and doctors up to speed on the rapidly changing ‘online’ world that teenagers are living in. The seminars highlight the dangers of emerging new technologies and how they are harming our teenagers on a physical mental, emotional and spiritual level. In fact all aspects of young people’s well being are under attack.

Doctors and health professionals are attending The Mental Health & Wellbeing of Young People seminars which focus on the internet’s potential effect on mental health among young people, and the harmful effect cyber bullying is having on teenagers including, depression, addiction and suicide.

Dr Ramesh Manocha said “cyber bullying is emerging as the main issue in schools at the moment, and the evidence clearly indicates that it is not only an unpleasant experience but in fact poses a risk the mental health and wellbeing of the victim”.

“It’s a clear example of how technology in the hands of those without the necessary maturity and understanding can become an unchecked, destructive force. We urgently need to educate our young people about how to use the internet positively while avoiding its many pitfalls” he added.

Dr Manocha said there was an ignorance in medical circles about these new teen troubles “most GPs don’t know enough to even ask the questions of young people, whether they are being exposed to the negative impacts of the internet”.

Increasingly teenagers are seeking the help of GPs and psychologists after becoming victims of cyber bullying. Ms McLean pointed out that doctors needed to understand online issues in order best treat their patients.

“You don’t want doctors to talk about Mybook and FaceSpace (instead of MySpace and Facebook),” she said.

Teachers and social workers are attending Generation Next Public Seminars which offer anyone involved in working with young people the opportunity to hear leading experts discuss the dangers of the internet and its ‘antisocial’ uses by our young people.

Dr Michael Carr-Gregg, an adolescent psychologist and author of Real Wired Child: What parents need to know about kids online said “schools need to help young people develop their moral compass as they stroll through the back alleys of ‘Cyberia’. While most adults can relate to schoolyard bullying, they have no context for understanding how the behaviour manifests itself in the virtual world”.

Former Senior Constable with the Victorian police and Cyber Safety expert Susan McLean said “previously schools did not become involved in things that occurred ‘out of hours.’ It was not their business or concern, however with cyber bullying, harassment and sexting, where the parties involved are often from within the same school or neighbouring schools, the problem is firmly thrust into the hands of the school accompanied by the often unrealistic expectations from parents, that they ‘solve’ the problem”.

Writer Helen Splarn. Editor Dr Ramesh Manocha.

Source: HealthEd