The ills of social media platforms are in the spotlight again with news that Instagram is to introduce “sensitive screens” that will aim to hide images until users actively seek to reveal them on screen. This followed increased political pressure after the recent tragic case of the suicide of Molly Russell whose parents believe took her own life after being exposed to graphic images of self-harm and suicide on apps such as Instagram and Pinterest.
The digital minister Margot James today accused social media companies of behaving as if they are above the law and creating an environment for bullying and abuse. The prospect of government regulation is now on the horizon as a voluntary code of conduct has been deemed to be unsuccessful and largely ineffective. There are even suggestions within government circles that tech platform bosses could be jailed if they don’t remove content deemed to be harmful to children. A white paper is due out later this year which will outline a range of options surrounding regulation.
Some are also speculating that social media apps are also the cause of the alarming rise in the suicide rate amongst 15-19 year olds, as revealed by the Sunday Times. The newspaper reported preliminary data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), compiled in 2018 and not due to be fully reported until September, that showed that the suicide rate in children and young people aged 15-19 has increased, while it has dropped in older age groups. The figures will reveal suicides have risen to more than five in 100,000 teenagers in England, which is up from just over three in 100,000 in 2010.
I spoke about the news story on Sky News on Sunday.
Noel Bell is a UKCP Pyschotherapist based in London. He can be contacted on 07852407140 or noel@noelbell.net
The painful truth is that troubled teenagers may have already passed a line by the time they are searching for information about suicide online. They could be seeking out social media as a coping mechanism for emotional regulation. Teenagers have anxieties about educational attainment and suffer from anxiety due to exam pressure, negative body image, social isolation and drug misuse in addition to undiagnosed mental health conditions. Their brains are still developing and their hormones are jumping all over the place and they are more susceptible to addiction and quick fixes. They are also struggling with life at a time when it is perhaps more difficult to be young dealing with technological advances, peer pressure and career options. Some teenagers suffer from lack of hope and austerity may have a role in helping to explain why some with emotional difficulties engage in self-harm, especially when mental health services have been under resourced.
Social media companies do, of course, have some responsibility for maintaining a duty of care to their users, especially their most vulnerable consumers. The tech companies clearly have the capacity to weed out inappropriate content, just look at their capacity to track and identify copyright content and child porn images. Some good work has been undertaken, such as the automatic notification on screens of the phone number for the Samaritans, for example, if their users trigger match criteria for suicide in searches. In spite of this there appears to be ongoing signposting to harmful and inappropriate content when users are searching for self-harm material across social media. I suspect that the tech platforms will seek to get their houses in order or be faced by increased regulation. However, that said, it is overly simplistic to solely blame social media platforms for the horrific rise in the teenage suicide rate.
See also
Is social media causing mental health problems
Call the Samaritans for confidential advice and support on 116 123, (lines are open 24 hours a day) or visit samaritans.org