Thread by @WomenReadWomen

Social media is having a dramatic toll on the mental health of young girls. There has been a huge increase in rates of suicide and self-harm.

Jonathan Haidt explains the statistics in the new documentary #SocialDilemma.

#socialmedia #sexnotgender

Frequent social-media use was associated with decreased mental health and well-being, as measured by responses to questions about psychological distress, life satisfaction, happiness and anxiety. Social media seemed to have a stronger impact on girls.

time.com/5650266/social…

"For ten years I specialised in treating eating disorders and literally every single one of hundreds of teenage patients mentioned social media as a contributing factor. Every. Single. One."
dailymail.co.uk/femail/article…

"The 'perfect' images girls are encountering in their daily lives are having a devastating impact on self-esteem and confidence," said 15-year-old panel member Alice.
bbc.com/news/technolog…

Social media has led to a TRIPLING of self-harm among pre-teens in the US and a 150% rise in suicides, #SocialDilemma reveals.

The "horrifying" epidemic emerged after kids became exposed to sites such as Facebook and Twitter on their phones a decade ago.

thesun.co.uk/news/12694383/…

A third of girls and young women will not post selfies online without using a filter or app to change their appearance, while a similar proportion have deleted photos with too few “likes” or comments, research has found.
theguardian.com/society/2020/a…

In the last decade, increasing mental distress and treatment for mental health conditions among youth in North America has paralleled a steep rise in the use of smartphones and social media by children and adolescents.

ctvnews.ca/mobile/health/…

A recent report suggested that filtered images’ “blurring the line of reality and fantasy” could be triggering body dysmorphic disorder (BDD), a mental health condition where people become fixated on imagined defects in their appearance.

theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2…

"While other factors play roles Mai Frandsen's research shows time thinking about how you look rather than how exercise makes you feel is making girls pull back from sport."

abc.net.au/radio/hobart/p…

“The average millennial takes over 25,000 selfies in his or her lifetime, which is astronomical and one of the major reasons for the self-esteem issues in this age group,” the report said.
marketwatch.com/story/should-y…

Tens of thousands of people, some as young as 12 are filming themselves, canvassing TikTok’s 800 million users for tips on looking prettier. ‘What can I do to be hotter other than plastic surgery... I’m willing to change anything’.

i-d.vice.com/en_uk/article/…

Explaining one such case, Dr Pawana N, a psychologist said, “I have seen many cases where children as young as 13 want to get their smile corrected only because they want good selfies on their Instagram accounts.”

edexlive.com/news/2018/oct/…

Teens who spend more time on digital media are more likely to be depressed and unhappy. We found that this link was stronger for girls than for boys... girls continue face more pressure about their appearance, which could be exacerbated by social media.

theconversation.com/why-teen-depre…

"They would trade these images like Pokemon card trades. In a strange way, it gave you status in the school. The more nudes you had, the more people would talk to you for the chance to get a peek of what girls looked like nude," Sally told Newshub.
newshub.co.nz/home/new-zeala…

According to research 76% of girls under 18 have been sent unsolicited sexual images on social media. Children as young as 12 report being asked for pictures by adult men on Snapchat.

newstatesman.com/science-tech/s…

Group members can be seen discussing female anatomy and rating their female classmates on appearance. The group members also talked of taking revenge on girls who had posted about them on social media by circulating the girls’ nude pictures.
hindustantimes.com/cities/police-…

"There's a rise in cyberbullying nationwide, with three times as many girls reporting being harassed online or by text message than boys, according to the National Center for Education Statistics."

usatoday.com/story/tech/201…

Girls also are more likely than boys to report being the recipient of explicit images they did not ask for. 35% of girls ages 15 to 17 say they have received unwanted explicit images, compared with about one-in-five boys in this age range.
pewresearch.org/internet/2018/…

Rates of depression started to tick up just as smartphones became popular, so digital media could be playing a role. The generation of teens born after 1995 – known as Gen Z – were the first to spend their entire adolescence in the age of the smartphone.

scroll.in/article/950220…

A disturbing investigation by a woman who posed as an 11 year-old girl on social media. Within one hour, she was contacted by 7 men. After 9 days, 92 men, requesting explicit photos or video.

A Gauteng family is desperately searching for their daughter, 16, who is believed to have been lured on social media by human traffickers.

iol.co.za/the-star/news/…

The children’s commissioner for England has accused social media companies of losing control of the content carried on their platforms, telling them that recent teen suicides should be a “moment of reflection” for the way they operate.

theguardian.com/media/2019/jan…