Why social media could be putting children’s lives at risk
As sites such as Instagram are blasted for publishing images promoting anorexia and suicide, Closer speaks to the parents fighting for tougher regulations
❛ SHE HAD SAVED PHOTOS OF SELF-HARM AND GIRLS LYING BLEEDING IN A BATH ❜
Flicking through her daughter’s phone, Tèa Staegemann, 45, was shocked to find horrific images glorifying suicide and self-harm. Her daughter, Tallulah, was only 10 when she first accessed the photos through social media, and they impacted her so greatly that she starved herself and even began self-harming.
GRAPHIC IMAGES
Now, Tèa has banned her daughter from using her phone and says not enough is being done to protect children online. Tèa, who is a motivational speaker and lives in Bookham, Surrey, with her husband, Robert, 43, and three daughters, aged six, nine and 11, says, “I bought my daughter a mobile phone when she turned 10 in April 2017 as I wanted to prepare her for secondary school. I warned her about the dangers of social media, but the graphic images of selfharm were so easy to find. All her friends were sharing them – it was impossible to avoid. I dread to think what could have happened if we hadn’t picked up on the signs so early. Social media giants need to do more to protect our children.”
DEPRESSION ‘CLUB’
Tragically, this isn’t an isolated case. Over the past month, websites have come under fire for publishing graphic images – promoting everything from anorexia to suicide. This was brought into the spotlight when heartbroken dad Ian Russell claimed Instagram “helped to kill” his 14-year- old daughter, Molly, who took her life after viewing graphic content. He said, “I have no doubt that Instagram helped kill my daughter. She had so much to offer, and that’s gone. The posts on those sites say there’s no hope, join our club, you’re depressed, I’m depressed, there’s lots of us, come inside our virtual club.”
In the UK, suicide is the biggest killer of people under the age of 35, and nearly 200 teenagers under the age of 19 take their own lives every year. Last week, Instagram announced that it would remove all graphic pictures of self-harm. However, images still remain on the photosharing platform.
Child psychologist Kate Medlin believes the dangers of social media images are vastly underrated. She says, “Some images that can be viewed on social media platforms are harmful. While parents can help by ensuring they communicate with their children, the media giants have to take more action to stop this.”
Peter Wanless, the chief executive of the NSPCC, added, “Social media bosses should be made to take responsibility for protecting children on their platforms and face tough consequences if they don’t.”
And Tèa agrees. She says, “All Tallulah’s friends had phones and we spoke to her about internet safety and made sure that the only app she had was Whatsapp so she could chat with her classmates. She’s an extremely bright and mature girl, so we thought we had no need to worry.”
MOOD CHANGES
However, just weeks later, Tallulah’s behaviour changed.
Tèa says, “She suddenly became moody and sullen and started calling herself ugly and fat. I didn’t think anything of it and thought it was just a phase, until her school called in October 2017 to tell us that she hadn’t been eating. They’d also had reports that she was self-harming. I was devastated. That evening, we sat Tallulah down and asked her if it was true. She was too ashamed to speak about it, but promised to stop self-harming.”
Tèa took away Tallulah’s phone immediately.
She says, “I realised her behaviour had changed since having the phone. When I checked it, I saw she had been accessing sites like Instagram and Pinterest directly through their websites and had secretly downloaded other social media apps, too. She had saved photos of selfharm and girls lying bleeding in baths. I was stunned that
she’d been able to access them so easily.”
Now, the family are trying to rebuild their lives.
Tèa says, “Tallulah stopped harming straight away, as she was cutting herself to fit in rather than because she was suffering from mental health issues. Luckily, she doesn’t have any scars.
“It’s great that Instagram has changed its community guidelines, but it can’t stop there. Parents also need to take responsibility and stop children having access to social media at such a young age. I won’t give Tallulah her phone back for a long time.”