Unpacking the digital impact on young minds – keynote highlights from BACP Children Young People and Families conference.
This year’s Children, Young People and Families conference by the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) focussed on: Unpacking the digital impact on young minds: Likes, lives and layers. A topic that is very much on people’s radar.
Our Communications and Marketing Officer Chrissy Norwich, also a counsellor working with young people and parents, highlights takeaways from the keynote speakers at the event, which included useful data from young people.
Keynote speaker: Shaun Polley is the Chief Executive Officer of Croydon Drop-In, a long-established young people’s mental health and wellbeing charity supporting thousands of children and families each year. He chairs BACP’s UK Expert Reference Group on school counselling provision and has contributed to national guidance and policy on safeguarding, missing and exploited children, digital harm, and youth mental health. His work brings together clinical insight, safeguarding expertise, and a deep understanding of the digital worlds shaping children’s lives today.
The title of his talk was:
The digital maze: how screens shape risk, resilience and the realities young people don’t tell us
Shaun highlighted that online/offline is one continuous experience, and in both domains development of a young person's identity and self-regulation are of equal importance, so the same contextual safeguarding framework should be applied. From his experience working with young people, he advises that we should't remove them from digital life and make them feel socially isolated, that we should just help them to navigate it.
Adults are playing catch up, and digital moves fast, but young people need to understand the maze they are navigating.
Shaun highlighted two types of digital harm:
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Safeguarding harm: grooming, child sexual abuse, online sexual abuse, radicalisation and extremism
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Environmental & systemic harms: algorithms, comparison, 24/7 dynamics, cyberbullying
Concurring with other speakers throughout the day, it's being aware of the content young people are viewing, and what they're consuming which is key.
Research that Shaun shared highlighted demonstrated that young people feel connected through online communities (adults should remember that it's the world they grew up in, it's not separate). It's where they get support during tough times, hearing from others sharing their experiences, and more young people said it had a positive impact on relationships than negative.
However, risk and safety live in this same space.
The Harm Reality
A high proportion of young people do see harmful or disturbing content online. Some had viewed racist/discriminatory content, some had been exposed to bullying online, had seen suicide/self harm content or had been exposed to pro-eating disorder content. So what they see can become their view within the world.
The Protective Reality
A high proportion of young people believe that being online helps people their age be happy, and most of them agreed that they like using online devices, and what they do online. Some make new friends online.
It's a paradox to hold - they do get more positive interactions and support, and can be safe havens for marginalised youth. But it's the quality of content they are viewing, not the quantity of screen time to be considered.
However, when their algorithms pick up on something they've paused on (briefly) in their feed - they will get fed similar content - so their window into life becomes a reflection of this. When a parent or therapist can explore what a young person is seeing in their feed, you may well have a key to what their low mood or mental ill health is about.
As impulse control and emotional regulation is still developing in adolescents, those supporting them can empower young people to reclaim control by active intervention. To remove things they don't want to see, to re-programme in a way that makes them feel better about themselves and their world. To empower them.
Social media is a place of social connection and as with being 'in real life' (IRL), young people need guidance into managing things they come into contact with, how to interact, how to set boundaries, how to make choices. The digital world is just another lens on navigating life.
In our newsletter next month, Chrissy will share takeaways from keynote speaker: Jeanine Connor MBACP, MSc, MEd, BSc (Hons) and her talk:
Modern Life is rubbish… (or is it)?
All talks throughout the day were also a great insight into the pros and cons, helping us all to keep an open mind into the benefits and safety aspects – you can find an overview from the day here: