A social enterprise providing education and information to protect and enhance the mental health of young people
It’s no secret that social media isn’t great for mental health - studies have shown it again and again, and some of the developers of social media have sounded warnings about the addictiveness of certain features. Now, to add to the growing body of evidence on how it affects mental health, a new study finds a link between [...]
Your home is a safe space, for you and your kids. It’s a place where you can all switch off from the outside world, forget about everything and everyone and the only people allowed in are the ones you invite. At least, it used to be. But we live in a time when everyone we [...]
Fake Instagram accounts, often referred to as “finstas” or “spam accounts”, have become the norm for many teens – but their reasoning for creating these is not as sinister as you think. I’ve spoken with 50 Australian families – including 118 children aged 1-18 – about technology use, and am currently conducting a follow-up qualitative [...]
The year 2012 was the moment our kids lost their childhood. Recent research out of the United States reveals a sharp decrease in wellbeing among adolescents from 2012 onwards — the year when smartphone ownership became commonplace among teens. Using survey data from 1.1 million young people, the researchers found that adolescents who spent more time on [...]
When young people are “looked after” by the state, they can live in a variety of care placements including children’s homes, foster parents or with friends or birth family relatives. These young people are known to be especially vulnerable to poor mental health. Many share too much with people who may do them harm – [...]
New research by Amnesty International has revealed the alarming impact that abuse and harassment on social media are having on women in Australia, with women reporting stress, anxiety, or panic attacks as a result of these harmful online experiences. The organisation commissioned an Ipsos MORI online poll which looked at the experiences of 502 women [...]
A COALITION OF 97 child health advocates sent a letter to Mark Zuckerberg on Tuesday asking him to discontinue Messenger Kids, a new advertising-free Facebook app targeted at 6-to-12-year olds. Advocates say the app likely will undermine healthy childhood development for preschool and elementary-school-aged kids by increasing the amount of time they spend with digital devices. The letter to [...]
It began at school, with A-star expectations and a horror of failure. Now we’re on social media platforms, locked into a game of mutually assured depression. During many job interviews, it’s common to be asked: “What’s your biggest weakness?” It’s a horrible question to respond to on the spot. We know it’s a trick, and [...]
A former Facebook executive is making waves after he spoke out about his "tremendous guilt" over growing the social network, which he feels has eroded "the core foundations of how people behave by and between each other." Chamath Palihapitiya began working for Facebook in 2007 and left in 2011 as its vice president for user [...]
Kate Winslet has zero time for Instagram. In an interview with UK Vogue, the Oscar-winning actor offered her thoughts on ageing gracefully, and her beauty routine, (spoiler: she's very low maintenance). But the 42-year-old didn't glaze over how young women have been negatively implicated by social media. "Just today a close friend, a younger actress who is well-known, [...]
