Ofcom identified a 6% increase in 12 to 15-year-olds engaging in online activism in the UK, sparking parental concerns.
Around 18% of children are involved in online causes through signing petitions or by sharing or commenting on social media posts.
Ofcom labelled this the “Greta effect” in their annual survey, after the 17-year-old environmental activist Greta Thunberg. The Swedish teenager’s impactful speeches earnt her the TIME magazine Person of the Year Award in 2019.
Whilst the increase is positive to some, Ofcom found that parental worries continue to grow. Almost 50% of the parents surveyed, expressed concerns around online bullying that might lead to self-harm, compared with 39% in 2018.
Pippa Best, a blogger and mum to 9 and 12-year-olds, shares the same concerns. Her children actively use social media to voice their environmental beliefs.
Best, however, is highly involved in the process.
“I want to protect them from the bullying aspect of social media more than anything else,” she says. Her children use her social media accounts and read articles forwarded by their mum to learn from her perspective, rather than something they access independently.
Best realises she cannot protect them completely, but what gives her peace of mind is the setting of boundaries. She also believes in creating a safe space at home, saying: “You can build a relationship of trust and support, so if anything happens, they feel able to talk to you.”
This method is strongly encouraged by media psychologist, Charlotte Armitage. She says being emotionally present is one of the biggest factors to help children develop positive mental health from an early age.
Her advice to help children embrace their digital independence while protecting them from the risks is to “be aware of the social media’s relevance and teach them about the consequences of their actions”.
The news story was written for a pilot magazine called Fired Up. Along with my role as picture editor of the magazine, I produced pieces adopting a solutions-based approach to global issues.
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