It investigates their sense of autonomy, competence and relatedness by exploring whether they have enough free time, to what extent they feel competent in the classroom, and to whom they feel most connected.
E: There is a certain amount adults can do, but we do seem to be competing against ubiquitous and often ill-informed online content. We might be having sensitive, sensible conversations with pupils and very carefully constructing context-specific surveys at school, and then teens hop online and watch a TikTok video Three Ways to Know if You’ re Depressed and What to Do About It that counters all of that. This is problematic as adolescents suffering from mental health issues are usually not in the right state of mind to discern the usefulness of online content nor to self-diagnose objectively and then seek appropriate help.
J: That is part of the issue we see with social media. In one way social media destigmatises mental health, as it’ s enabled it to become more widely discussed. However, the discourse on these platforms is rarely informed by robust research and it often doesn’ t appropriately define mental health in the way we would in research and clinical contexts. For example, in the press and online, mental health seems to be equated with‘ poor mental health’ not‘ good mental health’; there is a tendency to frame our understanding in the negative.
E: Does that mean you support social media bans like the ones recently implemented in Australia?
J: There is widespread debate around the role of social media in young people’ s mental health. The research shows that, on average, screen time is only marginally related to poorer outcomes. We also know that social media, one aspect of screen time, can be beneficial for some young people. For example, it can provide a place to connect with like-minded peers and get social support, outside school. But of course, for some it does cause problems and can make bullying experiences worse and expose young people
( Above) Within the Department of Experimental Psychology at the University of Oxford
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