The SHIELD Project: Helping children and young people develop resilience against negative experiences on social media

In this digital age, more and more young people are using social media. As a young person and university student myself, I understand how social media can be a big part of our life, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. When we were not able to see our friends, social media was and continues to be a great way for us to communicate. We are also able to talk about our anxiety about COVID-19 lockdown with others and ask for advice using social media. Social media also let us connects with others who have similar interests and enables us to develop our own interests. I was able to learn more about recent mental health research through following research networks, such as eNurture, other researchers and students on Twitter.

However, some young people have had negative experiences with social media. This can affect their emotions and wellbeing. Rates of cyberbullying have been on the rise as more people are using social media, making victims feel isolated and helpless. Social media can also have a negative impact on young people’s body image. Photos posted on social media can be heavily filtered and edited to fit in with societal norms. Young people who view these photos might then compare these edited images with themselves. Moreover, comments and messages about their body would also perpetuate a negative body image of themselves. All these bad experiences could impact on emotion, especially for young people. Many young people are going through puberty changes, making them more emotionally sensitive and vulnerable to negative experiences on social media. Negative experiences could also cause behavioural changes, including sleep pattern disturbances. This could sometimes lead to various mental health problems, such as depression, eating disorders and self-harm.

The age of young people starting to use social media is getting younger. (A report from Ofcom has shown that almost half of the children aged between 8 to 11 in the UK are using social media, despite the legal age of opening most social media accounts being 13.) It is therefore crucial for us to educate them about developing resilience regarding social media use. Hence, our team at Child-Oriented Mental Health Intervention Centre (COMIC) is currently working on the SHIELD project. This project is designed to develop an intervention for young people when they first start using social media. We are planning to design an education package that helps teenagers protect themselves from these bad experiences. It will also teach them how to use social media in a positive and helpful way, when struggling or feeling down. During the first phase of the project, we would like to gather ideas from young people to help co-develop our intervention. We hope you can share your experiences, both good and bad, please let us know how social media affects your emotions. Here is the link to our brief questionnaire.

https://york.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_9MKdk0mqZk5hS6O

A little story behind the design of our logo. It is based on children’s literature, where stags symbolise peace and protection. For example, in Harry Potter, the Patronus Charm of Harry, the most powerful defensive charm in the series, is in the form a Stag. The sun behind the stag represents the hope while the curved edges of the logo represent a social media app. We hope the stag would symbolise protection for children and young people from bad experiences on social media, which is what our project would like to achieve.

Gloria Cheung
Research Affiliate of COMIC Research
4th year medical student at Hull York Medical School
Twitter: @COMICResearchUK, @theinfpmedic