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Scroll Free September

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The Royal Society for Public Health is campaigning to improve mental health and wellbeing with the world’s first large-scale social media-free month. Scroll Free September is a campaign designed to provide people with the opportunity to take a break from all personal social media accounts for 30 days during September!

Social media has many benefits from staying connected with our friends and family online to educating and informing people on a wide range of topics, however social media also has many negative effects, especially on young people.

Confidence: Using social media daily can affect your confidence and you might not even notice it. We all have our own personal insecurities and comparing yourself to others on social media really isn’t very good for your confidence or mental health. Looking at others ‘perfect Instagram photos’ which may have been photoshopped or filtered in some way and then comparing these to yourself or own life can really knock your confidence.

Mental Health: Social media is addictive and it doesn’t just affect things like your self-esteem. You might get a feeling of ‘missing out’ as you see your friends posting their latest holiday photos or a recent event they’ve been to. These feelings can lead to things such as depression as you can feel isolated. Other things like not getting as many likes or followers can also make some people feel unpopular or not as liked as others.

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Cyberbullying: Cyberbullying takes place on digital devices which can include your computer and your mobile phone. Social media is a prime place for cyberbullying to take place as people can use computers as disguises, whether they are making direct or indirect remarks or comments to a person through social media, websites, blogs or even just comments. Cyberbullying can affect anyone, especially those who are vulnerable which includes young people.

According to the Royal Society Public Health:

  • 7 in 10 young people have experienced cyberbullying
  • 1 in 5 young people wake in the night to check their messages on social media
  • 56% of young people say they are likely to quit social media due to concerns about their mental health and wellbeing impact

Misleading information: Remember don’t believe everything you read online. A lot of people don’t understand the concept of this and think that everything they read on social media is in fact true. Unfortunately, this isn’t the case. Misleading news and information can be created by anyone and can be published anywhere.

Time management: The time you spend on social media could be spent wisely elsewhere. Do you really know how much time you spend flicking through Facebook or scrolling through Instagram? It’s probably a lot more than you think. There are many apps available to track your social media usage and some even allow you to set daily limits or blockages. Just have a think at what else you could be doing with your time, meeting up with a friend for coffee, having a date night or doing that odd job around the house which always waits until tomorrow.

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At General & Medical we have a wide range of Live Healthy articles for you to benefit from which includes ways to boost your confidence and different awareness days. Have you ever considered taking out Private Health Insurance but unsure of the cost? Well you can get a quick free quote online today to see how little Private Health Insurance could cost you.

This content is subject to our Disclaimer.

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