88 Next-gen mental wellbeing

Next-gen mental wellbeing

A mental health emergency among children is sparking reformed platform restrictions and limitations for apps and online games.

An increase in mental health referrals for children has led to online platforms and social apps having to recognize their impact on young users and redirect efforts and platform abilities to offer adequate protection.

In the United Kingdom, mental health referrals for children almost doubled to 200,000 during the pandemic, according to the Royal College of Psychiatrists. Urgent referrals in particular rose sharply from 5,219 between April and June in 2019 to 8,552 in 2021.

In the United States, experts from the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Children’s Hospital Association, and the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry deemed the mental health crisis among kids a national emergency “inextricably tied to the stress brought on by COVID-19 and the ongoing struggle for racial justice.” Their data indicates that emergency department visits for mental health rose by 24% from 2019 to 2020 for children between the ages of five and 11, and by 31% for those aged 12 to 17.

Some platforms are reconsidering their strategy. In September 2021, work on Instagram Kids was paused to allow a refocus on input from parents, policymakers and experts before building out the reformed platform. Meta, which owns Instagram, anticipates building this separate, adless platform for kids aged 10 to 12 with only age-appropriate content, allowing full parental supervision and requiring parental permission to join.

Also in September 2021, ByteDance introduced a youth mode to TikTok for kids in China, limiting those under 14 years old to 40 minutes a day on the app, and falling into line with the Chinese government’s video game restrictions for children under 14. The previous month, the Chinese National Press and Publication Administration had announced new rules restricting gaming for children under 18 to Fridays, weekends, and holidays between 8pm and 9pm.

Why it’s interesting The substantial impact of social media and gaming on young children is evident, and governments and parents are demanding protection for kids online. Tech companies are responding with refocused strategies to protect the mental wellbeing of younger generations.