“If you can't feed 'em, don't breed them!"
“Parents of hungry children need to sell their phones, cancel their Sky and Netflix subscriptions, and stop having their hair and nails done before turning to the government to feed their kids."
“Get a job!"
Just a small selection of the less obscene comments that many of us will have witnessed following the decision by MP's to stop the extension of free school meals for the most vulnerable children in the UK. Despite having decided only weeks before to take a break, or at least partial disconnection from Facebook, I felt compelled and empowered to take to the keyboard and voice my opinion. My posts were no less obscene, at least in the language that I used, than many of the posts that had initially infuriated me. I remember as I was writing the post, stopping to ask myself "Should I write this?". It was angry, provocative and offensive, and it was meant to be.
My decision was to post it, fuelled partly by rage at the selfish, ignorant and misinformed comments that I'd seen many people make, but largely by a drive to do something about it; to make a difference, to dissolve the propaganda with facts and statistics, to locate and draw-out the empathy and rationale that I was sure the majority of these people must have somewhere deep below the cold, hard shell that modern society seems to form on some of our beings.
The post achieved exactly what it was supposed to, one by one provoking individuals to bring their views to my wall. But did I achieve any tiny resemblance of what I intended to? Does any good come from social media posts and rants? And more so than that, I find myself asking how much of the decision to post was mine… and how much was down to the influence of Facebook's ever watching, ever evaluating algorithms? My pondering led me to research into the long-term effects that social media has on its users, and after what I found I, I use the word “users” very loosely.
I was shocked to find that some of the people that helped to develop, promote and profited from the rise of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram etc, are also the ones that are shouting loudest about the negative effects that these platforms have on our daily lives. Ranging from depression, lack of focus and anxiety, all the way through to the harder to spot effects. Including daily decision making, our political choices - both at election time and beyond, and even our personal biases and character.
Our daily news is littered with allegations and court cases involving the very apps and programs that have become an integral part of our everyday lives, weaponised by companies like Cambridge Analytica, utilised by leaders of the world to snatch or retain the positions of power they revere, and to ensure that we make the choices that they believe we should!
I am a believer in the many benefits and vast power that social media has to offer, so I ask, how do we continue to utilise the positives as we move forward without sacrificing our privacy, mental and well-being; and perhaps most importantly of all, our right to freedom of thought? There is, as of yet, no defined set of rules for safely traversing the social media landscape, but we can all take some simple steps to lessen the negative effects that we let it have on our lives.
The UK National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) recommend that in terms of safety, you should:
• Read and follow the advice given by the media platforms via their safety centre resources, you can also see www.ncsc.gov.uk for further information.
• Use two factor authentication (2FA) to protect your accounts, even if somebody has gained access to your passwords.
• Take time to understand your digital footprint and what it means. Think about what you are posting and who can see it. Do your online friends need to know and could the information that you are posting be used against you or even by criminals? Furthermore, try to be aware of what friends and colleagues say and/or experience about your online activity.
Children are particularly at risk online, most social media accounts require users to be at least 13, but accounts can be easily faked with as little as a false date of birth. Therefore, it is always strongly advised that parents and guardians take extreme caution in relation to children of all ages and social media.
Learn how to protect your child from the numerous online threats that so many may fall victim to, but the single piece of advice that I have most repeatedly come across, is to simply talk to your child, show them that you are interested in their lives both on and offline. Take time to not only show interest but to actually learn about the apps that your child uses, ask what they like about them, and about the people that they interact with, but try to keep to a trusting, open, caring conversation and your child will feel better about coming to you regarding any issues that they may experience online. When it comes to the effects that online time has on our mental health, some good practices, being sensible and self-aware goes a long way.
The first, and perhaps most important of all advice, is to try to be mindful and self-aware of how you feel. Take note of how you feel after spending time on social media, how do your friends’ posts make you feel? How do the adverts and articles make you feel too? Use this information to be more selective about why and how you spend your online time. This may include being more choosy about who you have, and who you accept as friends. Do certain friends make you feel low about yourself, drag you into never-ending arguments or debates, or even harass or bully you online?
If you are enduring negative experiences, ask yourself whether they are really necessary to your online and offline life. If it’s not your friends, do particular pages, public figures or influencers have destructive effects on your mood? If so, ask yourself if the you get the things you like, choose or want from that source, and whether they outweigh the negative effects that it has on you.
Social media is a fast moving, highly emotive, highly addictive machine and that's exactly how it was designed to be. Created with gambling machines and casinos, woven firmly into the programming, therefore it needs to be handled with extreme caution, especially when relative to the children and more vulnerable members of our society. It's important that we all take breaks and time away from online life, monitoring and limiting the time we spend in the digital world, the effects that we let it have on ourselves, what it is doing to our children and how it is impacting our future.
Find in-depth information and advice at: www.nspcc.org.uk