There are countless media stories about the perils of young people being online. Ironically, a lot of these stories are good ‘clickbait’ and give a false sense of what they are actually doing online.
Young people are online earlier these days communicating through many different devices. Even if you don’t live in a ‘connected’ household, they could be accessing the internet with friends or elsewhere.
Increasing reports of the negative impact of social media on young people’s self-esteem cannot be ignored, but are they true?
A number of popular social media platforms with different functions are now used by young people in Ireland. We are connected more than ever before and that connectivity causes concern for some parents.
Technology, as they say, is neutral, these are really tools to enable communication and entertainment.
The evidence to support the negative impact on young people’s mental health seems to come in thick and fast. Though there is plenty of evidence to say the contrary.
Social media allows people to connect with like-minded people, no matter where they are. This can be of great comfort and an outlet for young people. It can also allow a platform for self-expression.
Unfortunately, it has also become a place where young people can continuously compare themselves against a benchmark. Some young people can get caught in the trap of gaining their self-worth from a numbers game of likes, shares and follows.
The term ‘screen time’ gets bandied about quite a bit. When the phrase is linked with young people, reports are often negative.
Recently with restrictions due to the pandemic, it is likely that screen time has increased across the board. However, the term itself is quite misleading as not all screen time is equal.
The media often covers studies linking teen depression and screen time, or young people’s use of social media and anxiety.
However, recent studies have challenged the way these studies were conducted. Researchers from the University of Oxford have stated that the use of phones, tablets and laptops is no worse for teenagers’ mental health than eating more potatoes.
That’s not to underestimate concerns you may have if there are huge fights about turning the Wi-Fi off. Being on the receiving end of grunts from behind a phone day in, day out can cause a lot of frustration for parents.
In this article you will find:
Anxiety is an uncomfortable feeling of fear or stress. It’s quite a common feeling we all experience at some stage.
Many young people accessing Jigsaw face-to-face services report feelings of anxiety as one of the things going on for them.
In this article, you will find:
At Jigsaw, we know early intervention can make a huge difference to a young person’s mental health. Offering support early on can prevent a young person’s mood from deteriorating and possibly avert a crisis.
To act early, you need to know what to look out for. And how to tell if someone is beginning to struggle with their mental health.
We have all had those moments where we recognise a young person not quite seeming themselves.
It might be something they say or do, or something they fail to do, that lets us know they may be struggling with their mental health. We all have our off days. It is important to acknowledge and to talk about this.
However, there are some changes in how a young person is acting, thinking or feeling that can be first signs they are struggling.
Often as parents, all your focus and attention can go on making sure your young people are alright. Understandably, they are your first priority. But with this focus, it can be easy to lose sight of your own self-care needs.
Looking after your own mental health tends to come last on the long list of things to do. While this is understandable, it isn’t sustainable or useful in the long run. To be able to support young people effectively, parents need to be in a good place themselves.
Lockdown has been very tough due to Covid-19. As restrictions ease, self-care really needs to be part of your weekly routine.
Jigsaw clinicians looked at a number of changes that young people commonly experience and then took questions from parents about their current situation. This is a recording of the last in this series of webinars for parents.
Launched in 2019, Jigsaw and UCD’s My World Survey 2 asked young people if there was a special adult in their lives. This was an adult they could turn to when they were in need.
76% of young people had at least one adult they could talk to when they needed support. Having this person in their lives was linked to better overall mental health.
Young people who reported having one good adult tended to have:
Not having One Good Adult was linked to higher levels of distress, anti-social behaviour and increased risk for suicidal behaviour. One Good Adults are crucial to helping young people do well and to flourish.
My daughter suffers from anxiety, it often stops her from leaving the house and doing activities. She can become severely panicked and stressed if she has to start something new, or just visit a friends house. She loses sleep the night before, cries, hyperventilates and becomes extremely agitated.
For example, she asked to do a summer camp and she looked forward to it for weeks beforehand right up until the night before. Then the panic sat in, she focuses on the worst possibilities of what could happen. This then brings on a panic attack, sometimes we can calm her back down and she manages to go through with the activities but sometimes it overwhelming for her. She panicked so much for the summer camp that she ended up not going as she was too distressed.
I am very worried as she approaches her teenage years that this might only get worse. Do you think that she would benefit from talking to someone such as a counsellor to help with some coping mechanisms? Or what should we do for this?
-Zay
Hi Zay,
It can be really distressing when we see young people experiencing anxiety. Our natural instinct is often to protect them from experiencing it as much as possible. You are right to look at how to address your daughter’s anxiety now to try and prevent it from escalating.
A parent or guardian of a young person aged between 12 to 25 can access a Jigsaw service through a number of ways.
You can access a Jigsaw service by calling or emailing your local Jigsaw service yourself. If your young person is under 18, Jigsaw requires your consent. If they are over 18 years-old they do not need consent.
Check here for contact details for each of the different Jigsaw services.
