The explosion of social media use over the last decade has brought with it a failure of society to either predict the threats that the phenomenon would unleash into the lives of our children and young people, or to offer them any kind of protection against its harms.Big business drove its rapid development, many waxed lyrical about its power for good and little heed was given to the safeguarding and wellbeing of children.We are now scrambling to catch up in the face of social media’s clear impact on children’s mental health and wellbeing. The evidence is mounting, but here are just two recent examples: In 2017,14-year-old Molly Russell took her own life. The inquest into her death discovered that she had viewed thousands of images about suicide and self-harm on social media. Of 16 300 posts Molly saved, shared or liked on Instagram in the 6 months before her death, 2100 were depression, self-harm or suicide-related.In 2023, Dame Rachel de Souza, Children’s Commissioner for England, reported that 10% of children have watched pornography by the age of 9, with the average first age of exposure being 13. The most common source of this pornography? Twitter. Also in the top five were Instagram and Snapchat (Children’s Commissioner, 2023).It is argued that there is a place for social media and that there are benefits for children, many of whom are more likely to socialise and communicate with friends online than in real life. On the other hand, it is possible that social media will be looked upon in years to come as one of the biggest mistakes of the 21st century, giving a voice as it has to extremist, racist and misogynist views.
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