Suffolk mental health charity says it's still seeing the impact of Covid on children
Research suggests there was a 52% increase in children’s screen time between 2020 and 2022
A mental health charity in Suffolk says it's seeing more anxiety from children in schools due to the impact of Covid lockdowns which began just over five years ago.
This aligns with research from the University of Oxford which shows "young people who went through the pandemic were more likely to experience increased depression, social, emotional and behavioural difficulties and worsening general mental well-being."
"It puts them at risk of grooming and in dangerous situations"
We spoke to Fiona Hannah from Teenage Mental Health in Ipswich, she told us she's seen a worrying trend in the amount of time young people are spending on technology:
"We're seeing a lot more children now that are seriously misusing technology,
"They'll be on a device, in their bedrooms till 2:00 to 3:00 in the morning talking to friends. And it's difficult to stop them because all their friends are on it. So it requires schools and parents to be quite proactive with each other to stop it from happening."
Fiona is also worried about how young people are using social media:
"We're seeing a lot more kids using the internet and social media and technology inappropriately.
"Kids is putting TikTok videos up, talking about very personal things that you just wouldn't normally advertise.
"They're talking about their health and their personal bodies and things that are happening to them.
"And it puts them at risk of grooming and in dangerous situations...
"The people that abuse these systems are very clever of what they do. So we do see children sort of getting more involved in these things and having consequences as a result. So that's something we have seen."
Fiona explained that because young people have become so used to using technology since the pandemic they're more reluctant to have in-person therapy sessions.
"It doesn't actually help the children significantly, which is a concern.
"We've got a lot of children complaining that what they're getting isn't in person and it's just really difficult to engage with. We see that a lot."