Mental health is a more prevalent topic than ever before, and some are arguing it is down to the always increasing role of social media in our lives.
In London alone, around £7.5 billion is spent every year on mental health services, and shockingly, an estimated 110,000 teenagers in London suffer from a clinically significant health problem.
The average British person checks their phone 28 times a day and for teens, it is upwards of 3 hours of screen time a day on average.
With a constant stream of bitesize information, cyber bullying and open access to social media from an increasingly younger age, it’s no wonder teenagers these days are suffering.
There’s almost a need to assign ourselves to a mental disorder as a way of fitting into this online community, and this trend is increasing at an alarming rate.
Monitoring screen time and social media consumption is definitely a way forward. Apple’s recent update includes a screen time feature, to track your hours and which apps take most of your interactions.
Due to social media, millennials and Generation Z are the most connected people to ever have existed, but could this new media highway be causing a detrimental effect on the mental health of young people?