1 in 3 South Yorkshire teenage girls unhappy with appearance
It's claimed teenage girls in South Yorkshire are becoming obsessed with their appearance as a result of social media
It's claimed social media's leading to over a third of teenage girls in South Yorkshire being unhappy with their appearance.
The Children's Society's found thousands of girls in our region are distressed because they don't look like the way they look - with that number on the rise.
"Most of the girls I've worked with have felt like they have to be perfect if they go out - that have to live up to the images they're bombarded with on social media and on TV. I think there's just tremedous pressure on them."
"Instagram and Snapchat - it's all imagery and it's making teenagers get quite obsessed. That's what everything's about - how you look. I think their appearance is becoming so important that it's overtaking other parts of life that should really be mroe important to them."
The Children's Society report's found one in seven 10-15 year-old girls here aren't happy with their lives but far more - over a third - aren't happy with their personal appearance.
There are now calls for more to be done to tackle the problem both at school and at home.
Deborah says parents often aren't aware the impact social media's having on their kids:
"Parents don't know sometimes how much it's affecting their children and that's not the parents' fault it's because we're from different generations that didn't live with the same issuesz. We didn't have social media and internet and as many of these images we're surrounded by."
"I think it's a case of we have to show them how to battel with it - that's it's ok not to live up to those images. I think the amount that they're bombarded with images all day and other people's judgements of them not living up to that is where the problem is."
Rob Jackson, Yorkshire and Humber Area Director at The Children’s Society, told Hallam it's concerning:
“It is desperately worrying that so many of our young people in Yorkshire and the Humber are suffering rather than thriving. Girls are having a particularly tough time and it’s clear that concerted action is needed to tackle this problem.”
“All children deserve a happy childhood and we must never accept that it is somehow inevitable that so many children in Yorkshire and the Humber should live in distress. As a first step all children should be able to access mental health and wellbeing support in school. Children must be heard and helped.”