Children urged to take a social media break

The NHS has given its backing to a mental health campaign that is challenging children to stop using social media for 30 days. In an echo of The Daily Telegraph’s Duty of Care campaign, Claire Murdoch, NHS England’s national director for mental health, said the “Scroll-free September” campaign comes amid growing concern that social media could spark a potential “epidemic” in mental ill health among youngsters.

THE NHS has endorsed a mental health campaign that calls on children to give up social media for 30 days.

Claire Murdoch, NHS England’s national director for mental health, said the “Scroll-free September” campaign followed growing concern that social media could spark a potential “epidemic” in mental ill health.

The campaign is the brainchild of The Royal Society for Public Health, whose poll showed two thirds of people would consider giving up social media for the 30 days of September.

Ms Murdoch said the crisis fuelled by social media demonstrated why there needed to be “a major ramp-up of services to deal with mental health problems as part of the NHS 10-year plan”.

She added: “We need to see concerted action, with everyone taking responsibility, including social media giants, so the NHS is not left to pick up the pieces of a mental health epidemic in the next generation.”

In the poll, a third of social media users and half of young users, aged 18 to 34, believed quitting social media for a month would help them sleep, improve their real-world relationships and benefit their mental health and wellbeing.

In an article for The Daily Telegraph to launch the initiative, Shirley Cramer, the society’s chief executive, said its research showed social media increased anxiety, depression, poor sleep, body image concerns and fear of missing out through the addictive psychological techniques used by platforms to keep people online.

Echoing The Telegraph’s Duty of Care campaign for greater protection of children against online harm, she said social media firms should “redesign their products with human well-being at their core – not as an afterthought.”

She added: “Another part of that rebalancing is about examining and retaking control of our own relationships with social media. That is why today we are announcing the first ever Scrollfree September – a break from all social media accounts – for 30 days.”

Half of those aged 18 to 34 admit it would be hard or “impossible” to give up social media for 30 days and one in 10 aged 18 to 24 said it was impossible.

The society, the world’s oldest public health body, is also offering “scrollfree-lite” options for people signing up to the campaign website which include giving up social media part of the time.

Scroll-free September follows similar month-long campaigns including Movember (to promote men’s health), Stoptober (to encourage smokers to quit) and Dry January (to refrain from alcohol). Research found one in five people lost sleep during the night to check messages. It also found heavier users of social media – particularly girls – were more likely to report poor mental health and seven in 10 young people had experienced cyberbullying.

The society wants social media firms to do more to identify people with mental health issues and offer advice, two-hourly pop-up heavy use warnings and for digitally-manipulated photographs to be tagged as such.

It also wants children to have lessons in how to handle social media as part of compulsory personal, social, health and economic lessons.