We all know that young people spend a lot of time online.
Nielson research shows that young people are spending a whopping
average of 22 hours a week online1,
with more and more people accessing the Internet from mobile
devices at all times of the day. And with all this time online,
there's a persistent worry that young people are avoiding the world
- wasting their time posting status updates about what they are
doing and what they ate for lunch.
However, what young people are telling us is completely
different - that being online adds another
facet to their lives, rather than detracting from them. In all
this time spent online, they are being creators and collectors,
joiners of groups, critics as well as being consumers and
spectators2. By participating in online
environments, young people can share their interests, thoughts and
activities from the offline world with a broader social network
than they would have been able to maintain before. And let's face
it - they wouldn't do it if they didn't find something worthwhile
about it!
It's not just about being social. Having information accessible
at the click of a button, without exposing yourself, can make help seeking
more accessible than ever before, without playing on our
vulnerabilities. Young people are in fact more likely than any
other age group to look for health information online, with 71%
doing so compared to average of all adults at 59%3. When compared with the knowledge that over
70% of young people don't access professional help for mental
health problems4, it is clear that we
need to consider how we can change the way we work - how we can
leverage the comfort young people find in online spaces to support
appropriate help seeking behaviour.
While we may worry about the quality of information and help
seeking happening online, we need to consider how we can improve it
- rather than just criticising it. Not just mental health
professionals, but youth workers, social workers, counselors and
more can benefit from considering the ways online spaces can
support resilience and help seeking behaviour among young
people.
How can you help young people connect with quality information
about their mental health? As a professional sector, how can we
support young people to use appropriate online spaces to become
more resilient, or to access professional help if they need it?
Article by Shane
Cucow, Content Producer, coordinator ReachOut Pro.
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