Tech behind anxiety

A social service provider says issues affecting Southland’s youth are getting increasingly complex and she pins some of the blame on technology.

Southland Youth One Stop Shop director Candace Bangura said common problems facing young people using its services included anxiety, lack of confidence and not being able to express themselves, relationship issues at home or school, bullying, suicidal thoughts, self harm and homelessness.

Their issues became complex when the problems layered on top of each other, Bangura said.

‘‘I would say in the last year we have noticed a marked increase in the complexity of young people,’’ she told an Invercargill City Council committee this week.

The Southland Youth One Stop Shop, known as Number 10, was set up as a preventive organisation, but instead it was dealing with ‘‘high-risk kinds of experiences’’ young people were dealing with.

It provides health and social services for 10 to 24-year-olds and sees more than 1300 people each year, including about 150 for social issues.

Those aged 13-15 were the most prominent users of its services, Bangura said. ‘‘Young people come in when they are homeless, they come in when they are suicidal, they come in when they have diagnosed mental health concerns . . . those are really the situations we have noticed an uptake in in the last year.’’

The organisation was stretched and trying to change to meet the new demands, she said.

After the meeting, Bangura said she believed a contributing factor to the teens having more complex issues related back to how much time they spent on social media and looking at screens. ‘‘For me, anecdotally, it seems it is harder for young people who are in the environment of cellphones and screens and devices to really connect on a deep personal level. I suspect deep friendships and deep relationships are more challenging to obtain for young people now [compared to] 20 years ago.’’

Social media had its benefits, in that it allowed people to connect with others, but the screen also put a barrier between people, she said. ‘‘How many people sitting beside each other are connecting with their phones rather than each other?’’

‘Young people come in when they are homeless, they come in when they are suicidal, they come in when they have diagnosed mental health concerns.’

Candace Bangura

Internet safety expert John Parsons, author of the book Keeping Your Children Safe Online, said young children learned social interaction with other people through eye contact, facial expressions, tone of voice and body language.

However, if they became addicted to technology as they developed, and spent more time on devices than communicating face-to-face, they lost a lot of the social skills developed in early childhood. A balance was needed, he said. ‘‘I am not against technology but you need to live a balanced life.’’

Families should all have time off technology at the same time, parents included, he said.

Nga Kete Matauranga Pounamu Charitable Trust chief executive Tracey Wright-Tawha said her trust was also noticing the complex social issues affecting young people in the south. Problems could include whanau job loss, drug dependency, family breakdowns, crime, lack of parenting and coping skills and low socioeconomic resources, she said.

‘‘This pressure can result in the separation of young people from their families. where couch-surfing [living from house-to-house] and drug-taking can become prevalent.’’

There was often an inability to engage in ‘‘pro-social’’ activities where fees were involved and resources slim.

Financial issues were one of the underlying reasons young people ended up in front of its Iwi Community Panel hearings, a community-led alternative to court for low-level offenders.

Nga Kete worked beyond the offending to resource the individual to make better decisions and get on a pathway to improved wellbeing, she said.