Young People, Mental Health and Being Online

Earlier this year a 6th year  student at St. Paul’s Academy, Dundee, carried out some research with pupils in the school. He wanted to find out more about online behaviour and young people’s mental health. There were some really interesting results, here are the key points:

• Almost 9 in 10 respondents had saw inappropriate content online such as violent videos, bullying or harassment
• Almost half of the respondents said that they’d been bullied before.
• 15% of people spend more than 8 hours a day on their phones and social media
• The average time people spend on their phone is 4 hours a day
• 6 in 10 respondents use their phone until they fall asleep. This, according to research, suppresses your melatonin and makes it harder for you to sleep.
• 75% of self-identifying male pupils use their phone until they fall sleep compared to only 46% of self-identifying female pupils.
• The results also showed that 60% of self-identifying females had body image concerns within the last month compared to 42% of self-identifying males.
• 32% of respondents worried about school weekly or daily.
• The most common reasons for worrying about school are exams, tests, worrying about what people think and bullying
• 67% had stayed up and worried about things overnight
• 40% of young people said that social media has had a negative impact on their life. More girls than boys reported negative effects of using social media

At the current time most people (not just young people) are probably spending much more time online. If this is making you feel worried in any way please come and ask us a question.

You can also read more about keeping safe online HERE

If you’re looking for more productive ways to spend time online click HERE