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Help from Young Minds

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It's okay to reach out for help. Your situation is unique and no parent has all the answers. We all need a little extra support sometimes, and we hear from parents and carers just like you all the time.

So, if you're worried about the mental health and wellbeing of a child or young person up to the age of 25, you can chat to us by phone, email or webchat.

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Parents Mental Health Support | Advice for Your Child

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It's okay to reach out for help. Your situation is unique and no parent has all the answers. We all need a little extra support sometimes, and we hear from parents and carers just like you all the time.

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A beginners guide to the NHS's young people's mental health services from Young Minds

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CAMHS stands for Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services.

CAMHS is the name for the NHS services that assess and treat young people with emotional, behavioural or mental health difficulties.

CAMHS support covers depression, problems with food and eating, self-harm, abuse, violence or anger, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia and anxiety, among other difficulties.

There are local NHS CAMHS services around the UK, with teams made up of nurses, therapists, psychologists, child and adolescent psychiatrists (medical doctors specialising in mental health), support workers and social workers, as well as other professionals.

The first step to getting help from CAMHS is usually that you will be referred for a CAMHS assessment. This referral can come from your parents/carers, a teacher, GP, or yourself if you are old enough (depending on where you live).

If you're being supported by social care, a youth offending team, or a service at your school, they might also be able to refer you.

It's important to tell the person referring you as much as you can so you can get the help you need.

Most local CAMHS teams have a website where you can look up how to get access to their service.

After you have been referred, you will be put on a waiting list for an initial appointment (often known as an 'assessment'). This may sound scary, but it's normally just a chat so the CAMHS team can get to know you a bit and see how they can help.

At this appointment, you will normally meet one or two members of the CAMHS team. If you're under 16 years old, your parent(s) or carer(s) will usually be invited to join for part of this meeting.

This appointment will generally take place at a CAMHS clinic. But, in some circumstances, they may meet with you at your school or home. They will discuss with you the best place to meet before your appointment.

When you meet, the team will ask you questions to understand what you are struggling with and to get a better idea of what support you need.

Here are some common questions the CAMHS team may ask in an assessment:

What has brought you to CAMHS?

How long have you experienced the problem that has brought you to CAMHS?

What would you like to change in your life?

What might help tackle the problems you are experiencing?

How have you been feeling recently?

Try to be as open and honest as possible at your first appointment. These people are not mind readers and if you lie, you will not receive the best treatment plan for you to get better.

Hannah

At the end of the session, the team will talk to you about what happens next and what support they think you might need. You can also ask any questions you may have.

They may talk about your 'treatment' - this just means what you'll do together to help you get better.

If you would feel more comfortable having a parent or carer in the room with you during your assessment, that's fine. You can also see the team by yourself if you would prefer, though staff may expect a parent to be present for part of the meeting.

Also, if you or your parent/carer is not confident speaking English, CAMHS can provide an interpreter to help. Just let them know if this is the case.

It's important at your CAMHS assessment to try and be as honest as possible, as this will help the team assessing you understand how to support you.

Here are some things that are helpful for you to tell them:

when your problems started

what you'd like to change

if there's a pattern in the problems (keeping a diary or log book before your assessment can be really helpful to show this)

any difficulties in school or with friends

any general health problems, either now or in the past

any big family events or issues like divorce or bereavement

any recent or past trauma, e.g. emotional, sexual or physical abuse

other services you've had help from, like social care, hospital or private treatments

Going to CAMHS is a massive step and you should be so proud of yourself in acknowledging you need support.

Have a look at our medication pages for more information.

I was convinced that moving to adult services was the end of the world. BUT here I am, two years down the line, and I can tell you that I survived and that it was okay.

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CAMHS stands for Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services. CAMHS is the name for the NHS services that assess and treat young people with emotional, behavioural or mental health difficulties. CAMHS support covers depression, problems with food and eating, self-harm, abuse, violence or anger, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia and anxiety, among other difficulties.

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Phone line or online chat.

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Chat with a counsellor online about whatever's worrying you. Update from Childline We're working a little differently because of coronavirus. You can speak to a counsellor every day from 7:30am - 3:30am.

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What to put in a first aid kit.

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Note: This article does not encourage self-harm in any way. It is a resource that makes suggestions on what you can use to help you take care of your body if you do self-harm. The following information is not professional advice and should not be used to replace professional medical attention.

Many people struggle with self-harm, but not as many take care of their injuries. People are often scared to seek help, or are unable to seek help without their parents' knowledge. Some people don't think their injuries need to be taken care of, and other people neglect them as a way to punish themselves. If you struggle with self-harm, you may benefit from having a first aid kit around.

First, you need to decide if a first aid kit is right for you. Ideally, they're helpful to have around so you can take care of your body to prevent infection. However, it is easy for you to make a first aid kit with the means of using it to justify or encourage self-harm. You may think that you have to self-harm because you have a first aid kit or you might feel as though you can try to make your injuries worse because the kit will help with everything. Having a first aid kit is not so you can self-harm, but rather to help you take care of yourself if you have self-harmed. A first aid kit is not a replacement for professional help, and you should definitely seek additional help if you think you need it. The following list is of a few items to consider keeping in your kit.

An old bathroom towel or a dish cloth. You can use an old towel as a barrier when you put pressure on the wound to stop the bleeding. To clean the towel, you can soak it in cold water and rub the fabric together. You can use a soap or a laundry detergent as well. If the towel is white or you don't particularly care about the color, you can consider bleaching it. Let it air dry if you can, as the heat from the dryer tends to set the stains in.

Gauze. You can get a roll of it, or purchase gauze pads. Removing adhesive gauze from cuts or burns can be painful, especially if you use a lot of pressure when applying them. Non adhesive is beneficial for deep wounds, while adhesive is better for other wounds. If you're unable to purchase gauze, consider looking into cotton rounds, which are usually found in the health and beauty section of a store. Cotton rounds are a bit smaller but they can be used for smaller injuries. Also consider getting bandages in a variety of sizes for different injuries.

Medical tape. Medical tape can be used to help the gauze stick on your skin. There is a wide variety, from hypoallergenic to foamy. Paper medical tape is lighter than other tapes and can be a good choice for use in warmer weather. However, it tears easily, and is not suitable if you're active or if your injury is on a part of your body that moves a lot. Hypoallergenic tape can help if you have sensitive skin, while plastic and fabric tape can help to hold more dressings to your wound. Plastic tape in particular allows your wound to "breathe", and fabric tape allows you to move more. To remove the tape residue from your skin, try a little bit of baby oil.

Butterfly stitches, or steri strips. Butterfly stitches (also known as steri strips) are little strips that are used to help close the skin and encourage it to heal. They are normally used for small cuts, and they're good for cuts that have trouble closing on their own but don't quite need stitches. However, they are not a replacement for stitches from a medical center.

A cleaning agent. Solutions such as hydrogen peroxide, rubbing alcohol, and iodine can sometimes irritate a wound instead of help it. The best way to clean a cut is by using soap and water, but you can look into some gentle wound cleaner, such as the one by Band-Aid.

Antibacterial cream. Antibacterial creams helps treat and prevent infection by getting rid of bad bacteria on the skin or in a wound. Although antibacterial cream does help healing, it doesn't make the wound heal any faster (contrary to popular belief).

An ice pack. Keep an ice pack in the freezer so it is readily available if you need it. You can use it to reduce swelling if you've self-harmed by bruising yourself or spraining a bone. You can also use it to reduce the swelling that accompanies some wounds. If you do not want to keep an ice pack in your freezer, consider getting an air activated cold pack that sticks to your skin.

Resources. You may benefit from keeping a folded copy of a list of hotlines, or different emergency services to call in the event that you need professional medical attention. You can benefit from keeping a copy of first aid information as well.

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Note: This article does not encourage self-harm in any way. It is a resource that makes suggestions on what you can use to help you take care of your body if you do self-harm. The following information is not professional advice and should not be used to replace professional medical attention.

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An excellent website with resources for all.

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"Since starting alumina it's become the highlight of my week. It's such a safe, non judgemental place which has really helped me in my recovery."

Max

"If you're thinking about joining I'd say go for it, the team are lovely and everyone who does it is so welcoming and supportive"

Abi

Alumina is a free, online 7 week course for young people struggling with self-harm. Each course has up to 14 young people, all accessing the sessions from their own phones, tablets or laptops across the UK. The courses take place on different evenings of the week and are run by friendly, trained counsellors and volunteer youth workers. You don't need an adult to refer you or sign you up, and no-one will see or hear you during the sessions - you'll just join in via the chatbox. We want to help you to find your next steps towards recovery, wherever you are on your journey.

IS ALUMINA RIGHT FOR ME?

Are you...

10-17 years old?

Living in the UK?

Someone who self-harms or worries they might?

Looking for support but not wanting to do it face to face?

Wanting to move towards a life free from self-harm?

If so...

Alumina could be a helpful step forward. If you sign up we'll begin a conversation over email to work out if it might be a good fit - and you can ask us any questions you have. The only rule we have in Alumina is that we don't talk about suicide in the groups. If that's something you are struggling with thinking about we recommend getting in touch with our friends at Papyrus who are better equipped to support you.

"I thought it would be all serious and uncomfortable because of the self-harm talk but actually, the staff have made me laugh, we've been given a space that feels relevant to our ages and most importantly we can turn up in any mood and they'll be there for us." Runa

What's a session like?

"Clicking on the link for the first time was nerve wracking and intense with lots of thoughts going through my head. But within only a few minutes of the session I had a smile on my face and felt comfortable with the staff and the group."

Sasha

"Alumina was quite different to what I expected, I thought it would just be an intense 6 weeks and it would be over like other services. But it was nothing like that - instead I felt and still feel very supported by the staff. The group and staff are like a big family who's always there for me."

Samara

"Clicking that link for the very first time was terrifying. But I knew it could be life-changing. The first session I felt welcome, I no longer felt like an outsider. It's fun, believe me!! Most days I find myself looking forward to the next session because Alumina gives me a sign of hope."

Dan

Questions

We aren't a crisis service so if you're in need of immediate support please contact one of the following:

The Mix: Offering essential support for anyone aged 12-25. For their crisis messenger support service text THEMIX to 85258.
Childline: Support for anyone up to age 18. Call, chat online or email their crisis service.
Samaritans: Call 116123 anytime if you need to talk to someone.

We've changed the shape of our support for young people. This website introduces Alumina, our online support groups for young people struggling with self-harm. We've also recently launched beheadstrong.uk offering young people all kinds of information, stories and videos about looking after your mental and emotional wellbeing. You can find links to some of selfharm.co.uk's most popular articles below.

Yes we have! We have worked with 14-19 year olds for many years but we have always heard from people who are younger (or those who care about them) asking if we do anything for younger people. Then from September 2022 we reduced our age range to 11, and found how important it was to support this age range and that our Early Intervention project was great for this age range. Therefore, from October 2023 we will be aiming our work at young people in secondary school or college (or equivalent) and those transitioning to secondary school and our age range has reduced to 10-17 years old. If you're under 13 we will need to get permission from someone with parental responsibility for you, and we will email them to explain how Alumina works and make sure they are happy with you joining a group.

We aim to group similar aged young people into groups together, so 10-13-year-olds will be offered groups together and 13-17 year olds will be in other groups together. We are happy to work with anyone until the end of their full-time education, therefore we will work with 17- and 18-year-olds so long as they are three months or more away from finishing their education at the end of August.

Meet the team

Live Webinars

We have recently started to do live webinars on YouTube on issues related to self-harm and emotional wellbeing

Supporting Young People Who Self-harm

If you're a parent, professional or friend supporting a young person who's self-harming, we recommend taking an hour to watch this webinar with our Alumina Managers. They explore why people self-harm, why young people especially self-harm, why it becomes addictive, how to break the addiction cycle, and what young people wish the adults around them understood about self-harm.

"Alumina is a well thought through support service for young people; it is professional, caring and accessible to all. Signposting a young person to Alumina will help them begin their recovery journey."

DR. KATE MIDDLETON

Our Alumina advisory panel

More information about self-harm

We've moved some of our most popular articles about self-harm over to beheadstrong.uk, and you can use these links to find them:

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Free online Self-harm support for 10-17 year olds

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"Since starting alumina it's become the highlight of my week. It's such a safe, non judgemental place which has really helped me in my recovery." Max "If you're thinking about joining I'd say go for it, the team are lovely and everyone who does it is so welcoming and supportive" Abi Alumina is a free, online 7 week course for young people struggling with self-harm.

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A charity with a Christian ethos offering counselling.

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This Padlet started out as a place to reference all the articles I found helpful in my discussions with my teens about social networking and phone use. However it has grown into a springboard to a host of mental health support services.

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This Padlet started out as a place to reference all the articles I found helpful in my discussions with my teens about social networking and phone use. However it has grown into a springboard to a host of mental health support services.

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Free online support for young people

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Kooth is your online mental wellbeing community. Access free, safe and anonymous

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Young People using their past to support others

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The website of young people [Fixers] using their past to fix the future. They are motivated by personal experience to make positive change for themselves and those around them.

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Awareness of online pitfalls - mostly relevant for parents of primary aged children.

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Emotional Wellbeing and Mental Health Support - Essex NHS

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Colchester and Tendering young people's mental health support service.

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y.e.s. provides a confidential, non-judgemental and informal service for young people between the ages of 11 and 25 within Colchester and Tendring, who are facing difficulties in their lives.

If you are facing homelessness and need housing advice, if you are having family problems, if you are feeling low, depressed or suicidal, if you need advice about debts or would like to check you are claiming all the benefits you are entitled to, if you are teenager and are pregnant, if you are a young family who needs support, or if you need a CV, training or work advice, then y.e.s. can help you.

y.e.s. can provide help and support with many problems that you may be experiencing - and if we can't help you ourselves then we will find someone who can, and will support you in getting that help.

The Essex Family Innovation Fund (FIF) has been a huge success with in excess of 10,000 referrals since 2015 and at The Colchester & Tendring Youth Enquiry Service we have accepted 400 of those counselling referrals for 11-25 year olds and around 200 for 6-10 year olds. If you or a family member need support please complete the referral form as fully as possible and email it to us and we will contact you to arrange to meet.

Follow this link for local services http://essexpartnership.org/content/directory-services.
Thank you for your patience in this matter.

For a friendly chat, or further information, call us on 01206 710771, use the 'Contact Us' option, or pop in to see us at 9 Trinity Street, Colchester, Essex, CO1 1JN

"If you need help, the answer is y.e.s. - supporting young people."

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y.e.s. provides a confidential, non-judgemental and informal service for young people between the ages of 11 and 25 within Colchester and Tendring, who are facing difficulties in their lives.

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YoungMinds | Mental Health Charity For Children And Young People

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YoungMinds are a mental health charity for children, young people and their parents, making sure all young people can get the mental health support they need.

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Lots of articles and resources.

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Time to Log Off: The Home of Tech Life Balance

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Time to Log Off: The Home of Tech Life Balance

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A range of articles on how to ensure we get the benefits from technology in our lives but not the pitfalls.

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Social media addiction is defined as compulsive and excessive use of social media (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat) even when use of those platforms is taking over your life and having a negative effect on your 'real life' and relationships.

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Charities and support available for young people with mental health problems.

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Happiness Lies in 1 hour of screen time a day

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Happiness Lies in 1 hour of screen time a day

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A study into teens' happiness and sense of well-being and links with screen time verses face-to-face interactions

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With every new technology comes a wave of panic that it will ruin our lives forever, and smartphones are no exception. A new study adds some much-needed sanity to the debate, making a point that, although obvious, seems to escape most of us: 'Moderation. Is. Key.'

Does new technology make teenagers unhappy? The verdict is in: not... really.

When the telephone first came about in the late 1800s, some people were afraid to touch it because they feared an electric shock, and church-goers used to refer to it as the instrument of the devil.

The television freaked people out on a moral level; TV would hurt "conversation, reading, and the patterns of family living," critics worried, and it would "result in the further vulgarization of American culture."

Finally - and funnily - the arrival of personal computers brought the "moral panic" to an unprecedented level: CNN published a story entitled "Email 'hurts IQ more than pot,'" The Telegraph reported that "Facebook and MySpace generation 'cannot form relationships,'" while the Daily Mail proudly published the piece, "How using Facebook could raise your risk of cancer."

When it comes to smartphones and social media, parents, in particular, tend to panic over their children's moral development and their general well-being, worrying that social media will corrupt the young and ruin their chances of being happy.

While exercising some control and restraint is obviously necessary, we need to apply to new media and new technologies the same principle that we would to dietary fat, alcohol, love, or even exercise: everything in moderation!

This seems to be the main takeaway from a new study that set out to examine whether smartphones really make our teens happy or unhappy.

One hour of screen time daily may be ideal

Jean M. Twenge, the lead author of the study, who's also a psychology professor at San Diego State University, and her colleagues examined the data available from a large survey of more than a million American teenagers.

The survey included questions about how much time the teens spent on their smartphones, tablets, and computers, as well as how often they interacted with their peers face-to-face. The teenagers were also asked about their general levels of happiness and well-being.

Overall, the study found that teenagers who reported more "on-screen" time were, on average, less happy than those who spent more time "in real life."

Engaging in sports or having more face-to-face social interaction correlated with more happiness, while texting, playing video games, and using social media and instant messaging correlated with less happiness.
On the other hand - and this is where the moderation thing comes in - complete screen abstinence did not correlate with happiness either. Actually, the teens who were the happiest reported using digital media a bit under 1 hour every day.
Interestingly, after that 1 hour, unhappiness levels started to rise proportionately with the increasing levels of screen time.

"The key to digital media use and happiness is limited use [...] Aim to spend no more than 2 hours a day on digital media, and try to increase the amount of time you spend seeing friends face-to-face and exercising - two activities reliably linked to greater happiness."

Prof. Jean Twenge

Well, that sounds reasonable, doesn't it? Although Prof. Twenge's research has been criticized in the past for adding to the scaremongering that surrounds new technology, we think her new study puts forth a pretty sensible idea: technology, like anything else, can be used, but shouldn't be abused.

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Happiness may lie in 1 hour of screen time daily

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With every new technology comes a wave of panic that it will ruin our lives forever, and smartphones are no exception. A new study adds some much-needed sanity to the debate, making a point that, although obvious, seems to escape most of us: 'Moderation. Is. Key.' Does new technology make teenagers unhappy?

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Smartphone addiction harms your teen's health

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Smartphone addiction harms your teen's health

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Small scale (38 participants) study linking large scale smartphone use with mental health disorders

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To all parents who were ever concerned about their teenage son's or daughter's addiction to their smartphone: you have serious grounds for worry, a new study suggests.

A new study suggests that smartphones do put teenagers at risk when it comes to mental health.

Is your teenager glued to their phone? Are they always online, checking social media, or looking at cat and bunny videos? Well, researchers from the Korea University in Seoul, South Korea, say you have grounds to worry.

A consumer survey carried out this year found that 82 percent of Americans own or can use a smartphone, 92 percent are likely to use it while shopping, 78 while eating at home, and 44 while crossing the street.

Moreover, according to a Pew Research Center survey, 73 percent of teens have access to a smartphone, and 92 percent of them say that they go online every single day.

Dr. Hyung Suk Seo, of Korea University, warns that there's more danger in this addiction than just the potential of wasting a lot of time sharing memes and viral videos. In fact, teens who are addicted to their phones and the Internet have a chemical imbalance in their brains that predisposes them to depression and anxiety.

The researchers presented the results of their study at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America, held in Chicago, IL.

Addicted teens more likely to be depressed

Dr. Seo and team worked with 19 adolescents - aged 15.5 years old, on average - comprising nine males and 10 females who had been previously diagnosed with smartphone or Internet addiction.

These were matched for biological gender and age with other 19 participants without smartphone addiction (the controls).

The participants' brains were examined using magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS), which is a technique that allows researchers to evaluate levels of various chemicals in the brain.

Of the 19 smartphone- and Internet-addicted teens, 12 also received cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) over 9 weeks as part of the study. The CBT type that they received was adapted from a program targeting gaming addiction.

To evaluate just how serious the participants' addictions were, the researchers used standardized tests focusing on the extent to which smartphone and Internet use impacted the performance of daily activities, harming productivity and social life, as well as sleep and mental health.

"The higher the score [on these tests]," explains Dr. Seo, "the more severe the addiction."
Participants with a more severe Internet and smartphone addiction were also found to have problems with depression and anxiety, as well as sleeplessness and impulsive behavior.
Chemical imbalances in the brain revealed

The addicted teens underwent MRS both before and after CBT, while the control group was only examined using MRS once. The researchers were interested in measuring levels of gamma aminobutyric acid (GABA) and glutamate-glutamine (Glx) in the brain.

GABA is an inhibitory neurotransmitter that interacts with neural synapses, slowing down signaling between brain cells. GABA balances out the effect of Glx, which is an excitatory neurotransmitter that speeds up electric signaling in the brain.

Imbalances in GABA and Glx levels have previously been found to play a role in mood disorders such as depression and anxiety.
Following the MRS exams, the team found that addicted participants, in comparison with the healthy control group, had a higher ratio of GABA to Glx before CBT in the anterior cingulate cortex area of the brain, which is implicated in cognition and the regulation of emotions.
Chemical balance, however, was largely restored in the brain following CBT interventions.

Dr. Seo explains that ratios of GABA to Glx and GABA to creatine - a natural substance that plays a role in emotional regulation and cognitive ability, among others - are significantly linked to the severity of smartphone and Internet addiction, as well as with the development of anxiety and depression.

The researcher hypothesizes that GABA levels in the anterior cingulate cortices of youths with a smartphone or Internet addiction could be associated with damaged cognitive and emotional processing in the brain. Still, this idea is yet to be confirmed by further clinical studies.

"The increased GABA levels and disrupted balance between GABA and glutamate in the anterior cingulate cortex may contribute to our understanding the pathophysiology of and treatment for addictions."

Dr. Hyung Suk Seo

In the meantime, Dr. Seo and team's findings should inspire us to revise our relationship with technology and set a healthy example for younger users.

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Yes, smartphone addiction does harm your teen's mental health

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To all parents who were ever concerned about their teenage son's or daughter's addiction to their smartphone: you have serious grounds for worry, a new study suggests. A new study suggests that smartphones do put teenagers at risk when it comes to mental health. Is your teenager glued to their phone?

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6 Questions to find out if you are addicted to social media

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6 Questions to find out if you are addicted to social media

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Article from Nottingham Trent University with advice and social consequences of being unable to put down our smartphones

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Mark Griffiths and Daria Kuss are psychologists at Nottingham Trent University in the U.K. They specialize in studying the impact of technology and social media on cognitive and social behavior.
NOTTINGHAM, England - Are you addicted to social media? Ask yourself these six simple questions:

Do you spend a lot of time, when you're not online, thinking about social media or planning to use social media?

Do you feel urges to use social media more and more over time?

Do you use social media to forget about personal problems?

Do you often try to reduce your use of social media, without success?

Do you become restless or troubled if you are unable to use social media?

Do you use social media so much that it has had a negative impact on your job, relationship or studies?

If you answered "yes" to a few of these questions, it's likely that you are a fairly standard, habitual social media user. Like most of us, you would probably benefit from a " digital detox," a strategy to force you to reduce the amount of time spent on social media. This can be achieved through a few basic steps such as turning off the sound function on your phone, only allowing yourself to check your phone every hour or so, and dedicating periods in the day as self-imposed no-screen time.

However, if you answered "yes" to most or all of these questions, then you may have or be developing an actual addiction to using social media. Like any psychological disorder or condition, the only way to confirm this is through a formal diagnosis from a clinical psychologist or psychiatrist.

Back in 2011, we were the first academics to systematically review the scientific literature on excessive social media use. We found that for a small minority of individuals, social media had a significant detrimental effect on many aspects of life including relationships, work and academic achievement. We argued that such signs are indicative of addiction similar to what people experience with alcohol or drugs.

Years later, " smartphone addiction" and " screen addiction" - closely tied to social media addiction - have become fairly common concepts. In a 2017 paper, we revisited the latest research on the topic and showed that social media use for a minority of individuals is associated with a number of other psychological problems as well, including anxiety, depression, loneliness and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.

While a relatively small number of people are diagnosed as addicted, the negative impact of social media is apparent whether it's deemed clinical addiction or not. Most people's social media use is habitual enough that it spills over into other areas of their lives. It results in behavior that is problematic and dangerous, such as checking social media while driving.

While the majority of our behaviors around social media may be annoying rather than dangerous, they are nonetheless indicative of a societal problem. Steps need to be taken now, while the number of social media addicts is still small. We shouldn't wait to see if it becomes an epidemic.
Steps we should take
Governments and organizations can help minimize and, in some cases, prohibit the use of mobile devices. Some such steps - such as banning smartphone use while driving - are in place in many countries already. But what about daily practices that impact our mental health, even if they don't place us in the way of direct bodily harm?

Given the loss of productivity in both the workplace and educational settings, employers, schools and colleges need better policies to ensure that people are focused on their required tasks and activities. Many schools ban the use of smartphones in the classroom. Prohibition in other contexts such as workplace settings (where practical) is also justified.

Some restaurants are now providing discounts to customers who refrain from using their smartphones during a meal. More positive reinforcement strategies like these may well be the way forward in trying to decrease time spent checking social media and to increase time spent engaging in real life.

Still, more digital literacy and awareness of the effects of excessive social media use need to be embedded in our work and educational institutions. More controversially, social media operators like Facebook could start using their behavioral data to identify excessive users and provide strategies to limit time spent on their products. This is already being used in the online gambling industry. Why can't we apply it to social networking sites as well?

For the small number of individuals who are genuinely addicted to social media, treatment is warranted but unlikely to be funded by medical insurance or national health services because the disorder hasn't been formally recognized. Consequently, those who need treatment are likely to need the services of specialist treatment centers such as reSTART, a facility outside Seattle that aids young people addicted to the Internet, video games, social media and more.

The goal of treatment for this type of addiction, unlike for many other addictions, should be controlled use rather than abstinence. In the connected world we live in, it is simply not feasible to prohibit someone from accessing all smart devices. The most successful type of treatment for online addictions appears to be traditional cognitive behavioral therapy, although there are relatively few published studies examining its efficacy in relation to social media addiction. We need more research, so that we can develop more and better solutions to what is likely to be a growing problem.

There is no magic bullet. Individuals are ultimately responsible for their own social media use. But policymakers, social media operators, employers, researchers, health care providers and educational establishments all need to play their part in reducing excessive use of social media, the "opiate for the masses."

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Opinion | 6 questions help reveal if you're addicted to social media

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Mark Griffiths and Daria Kuss are psychologists at Nottingham Trent University in the U.K. They specialize in studying the impact of technology and social media on cognitive and social behavior. NOTTINGHAM, England - Are you addicted to social media?

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Abstract from a 2016 large scale social study on the relationship between addictive use of social media & video games and psychiatric disorders

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Social Networking isn't all bad - there's a lot of benefit.

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Frequent social media use and screen time have been portrayed as universally bad for our health.

However, a lot of research on this phenomenon has been characterized by poorly done studies and bad science.

The vast majority of evidence suggests that our smartphones are not uniformly harmful, and in some cases, they may be a force for good.

This is an installment of Business Insider's "Your Brain on Apps" series that investigates how addictive apps can influence behavior.

True story: I once walked headfirst into a pole on my way home from work.

I can't blame the darkness (the sun had only just begun to set), and I can't blame my vision (I'd recently gotten new glasses). But I can blame my iPhone, whose vibration had lured me into staring at its crisp bright screen. The text I was responding to was not worth the heart-shaped bruise that I shamefully covered in makeup the next day.

Until my ridiculous injury, I had laughed at stories about the dangers of "walking while texting." I'd eye-rolled at reports of painful "iPhone neck" from leaning over tiny screens. And I'd never taken the idea of social media addiction seriously.

But that evening, I started to wonder if maybe our generation was screwed- and maybe our smartphones were to blame.

So I did some digging: I pored over scientific studies and talked to researchers who specialize in psychology, sociology, addiction, and statistics. A few experts were emphatic that social media addiction is real and should be added to the DSM IV, long considered the diagnostic bible for psychologists. Others hedged their bets and said more studies were needed.

But the conclusion I gathered was the opposite of what I've been hearing in the news. Social media and smartphones are not ruining our brains, nor will either become the downfall of a generation.

The vast majority of the large and well-designed statistical studies on smartphones and the brain actually suggest these technologies are having little to no effect on our health and well-being. And in some cases, the availability of social media and phones may be a power for good.

'The lowest quality of evidence you could give that people wouldn't laugh you out of the room'

Marcos Mesa Sam Wordley/Shutterstock.com
Most of the headlines about social media - the ones that warn us about smartphones destroying a generation, ruining our posture and mood, and eroding our brains- are simply "a projection of our own fears," Andrew Przybylski, a senior research fellow at the Oxford Internet Institute, told Business Insider.

That's because most existing studies on social media's effects suffer from the same problems that have plagued the social science field for decades.

For one thing, many of the studies are too small to carry a lot of statistical power, Przybylski said. Researchers also often go into a study with an agenda or hypothesis that they hope their study will support.

Take, for example, the claim that because teen depression and iPhone ownership have been rising at the same time, they must be connected. This is a classic example of correlation, not causation: our phones are not necessarily to blame for cases of depression.

Przybylski has attempted to replicate some of the studies that suggested there's a strong tie between social media use and depression. When he used larger sets of people in a more well-controlled environment, he failed to find the same results. Instead, he's found either no link or a very, very small one.

"People are making expansive claims about the link between well-being and tech use, but if this was displayed on a Venn diagram, the circles would overlap one quarter of one percent," Przybylski said. "It is literally the lowest quality of evidence that you could give that people wouldn't laugh you out of the room."

Last year, Przybylski co-authored a study published in the journal Psychological Science in which he examined the effect of screen-time on a sample of more than 120,000 British adolescents. The researchers asked teens how much time they spent streaming, gaming, and using their smartphones and computers. After running the data through a series of statistical analyses, it became clear to Przybylski that screen-time isn't harmful for the vast majority of teens. In fact, it's sometimes helpful - especially when teens are using it for two to four hours per day.

"Overall, the evidence indicated that moderate use of digital technology is not intrinsically harmful and may be advantageous in a connected world," Przybylski wrote in the paper.

Even when it came to those positive results, however, Przybylski said the significance of the effects they observed was tiny.

"If you're a parent and you have limited resources, the question becomes: which hill are you going to die on? Where do you want to put your limited resources? Do you want to put it into making sure your kid has breakfast or gets a full night's sleep? Because for those activities the effects are three times larger than they would be for screen-time," Przybylski said.

Seeing problems everywhere

Many parents fear that using social media is universally bad for teens. They get distracted by text messages during class; they miss out on family time because they're texting at the dinner table; they scroll through Instagram instead of going to sleep.

Once you see a few examples of phone-obsessed behavior - a whole family staring silently at their phones while eating a restaurant, say - you tend to notice it more wherever you go.

This may be partially a result of the phenomenon known as confirmation bias. Essentially, you see one event that supports an idea you already have, then because you are hyper-aware of these types of activities, you find more examples that appear to confirm that idea.

It's a bit like when you begin shopping for a certain kind of car - a Honda Civic, let's say - then suddenly notice that everyone appears to be driving a Honda Civic. In reality, that model hasn't gotten more popular overnight; you're simply primed to notice them.

"A lot of the research is bound up in these problems," Przybylski said. "Our concerns or panic about a new thing" - in this case, social media - "guide how we do the research and interpret the results."

Distorted, negative viewpoints have likely influenced the research on a host of new inventions and activities throughout history.

Unfortunately, paying attention exclusively to social harms makes us blind to the ways a new technology may be help us. In the case of social media, such biases can take attention away from other more serious problems.

"It's important to think about all the things we're not talking about here. We don't talk about things like privacy, advertisements, who owns your data, and all this stuff that's actually important. So actually it serves the interest of larger companies to be debating things like screen time and usage. When you bring it all together you have a big dog and pony show," Przybylski said.

When social media may help, not harm

Candice L. Odgers, a professor of psychology and social behavior at the University of California Irvine, specializes in studying new technologies and adolescent development. She told Business Insider that social media may be having some positive effects on teens and young adults, but many people are not paying attention to that research.

"The digital world hasn't created a new species of children. Many of the things that attract them to things about social media are the same things that attract them to other activities," Odgers said. "There are a lot of good things that are happening with social media use today and there's been a really negative narrative about it."

A large review of 36 studies published in the journal Adolescent Research Review concluded that instead of feeling hampered by their screens, teens are chiefly using digital communication to deepen and strengthen existing in-person relationships. The authors concluded that young adults find it easier to display affection, share intimacy, and even organize events and meet-ups online.

Similarly, the authors of a 2017 review of literature on social media and screen time published by UNICEF concluded that "digital technology seems to be beneficial for children's social relationships" and that most young people are using it to "enhance their existing relationships and stay in touch with friends."

Kids who struggle to make friends in person may even use digital tools to "compensate for this and build positive relationships," they said. A small 2018 study of British teens in foster care supports that idea - it suggested that social media helped young people maintain healthy relationships with their birth parents, make new friends, and ease the transition from childhood to adulthood.

Other research, including a small 2017 study of Instagram users aged 18-55, suggests that teens also turn to platforms like Instagram as a means of exploring the world and dreaming up potential adventures - a category of people the researchers classified as "feature lovers."

"Feature lovers want to see something that's exotic or unique; they're looking at Instagram and they're thinking, 'take me to China or Alaska or some place I can't afford to go,'" T.J. Thomson, the lead author of the study, told Business Insider.

You're probably not 'addicted' to Facebook or Instagram

The researchers behind these studies emphasized that social media and smartphones are not so much an "addiction" as a novel, attention-grabbing platform for enhancing existing activities and relationships.

In other words, social media has similar impacts on the brain as lots of other types of activity - too much or too little can be linked with negative impacts, while moderate use can have positive results.

"Claims that the brain might be hijacked or re-wired by digital technology are not supported by neuroscience evidence and should be treated with skepticism," the authors of the UNICEF review wrote.

Addiction is a complicated but serious problem that neuroscientists have yet to fully understand. It typically stems from a cache of interconnected factors that include our environment and our genes. As a result, classifying our nearly-universal reliance on digital tools as an "addiction" simply isn't fair to the people whose lives have been torn apart by things like alcoholism or drug use.

A chief characterizing factor of addictive behavior is that use of a given substance interferes with daily activity so much that people can't function normally. Studies suggest that social media, by contrast, is often used to enhance existing relationships, and does not decrease real-world interactions or cause uniform harm.

Research does indicate, however, that people who may already be predisposed to depression and anxiety could suffer more as a result of using these types of "compare-and-despair" platforms.

A series of studies published this month in the journal Information, Communication, and Society found that while people's Facebook use had no impact on their social interactions later that day, scrolling through the platform did appear to be linked with lower feelings of well-being if the person had been alone earlier in the day.

"People who use social media alone likely aren't getting their face-to-face social needs met," Michael Kearney, a co-author of the study, said in a statement. "So if they're not having their social needs met in their life outside of social media, it makes sense that looking at social media might make them feel even lonelier."

There are plenty of simple, healthy ways to address these risks without resorting to harsh measures like breaking up with your smartphone. I, for one, no longer text when I walk.

It's a small change, but my forehead is grateful.

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There's no solid evidence that people get addicted to social media - and using it could actually be beneficial

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Frequent social media use and screen time have been portrayed as universally bad for our health. However, a lot of research on this phenomenon has been characterized by poorly done studies and bad science. The vast majority of evidence suggests that our smartphones are not uniformly harmful, and in some cases, they may be a force for good.

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A video: 'How much social media is too much?'

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Describing yourself as 'a social media addict' doesn't usually inspire concern from other people. In fact, it's frequently included in bio descriptions on Twitter and Instagram. Decorate your LinkedIn profile with such a claim and you may even find yourself receiving interest from media and publishing companies searching for a savvy digital native. But imagine if, one day, it's not an accolade or joke at all - but a psychiatrist's diagnosis?

Social media addiction has been a much-flouted term lately; maybe it's because it's January and users are looking to be more active and spend less time online, or maybe that's because social media can have a negative impact on our mental well-being. But a growing body of research is seriously considering whether problematic and excessive social media usage could be pathological and, in turn, designated as a mental health disorder.

There are two established organisations which classify mental disorders - the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the American Psychiatric Association. Any alleged addiction needs to fit certain criteria before it's considered pathological behaviour, and there needs to be a vast amount of research that confirms it. It was only announced in January 2018 that video gaming addiction - a problem as old as the internet itself - will be listed by the WHO as a disorder.

What's especially interesting about this new classification is that one of the experts who has been researching it for decades - Mark Griffiths at Nottingham Trent University - has also been investigating gambling addictions, internet addictions and the excessive, perhaps even dangerous, use of social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

"Do I believe that people can be so engrossed in social media that they neglect everything else in their life?" he asks. "I do think it can be potentially addictive."

In his research, Griffiths has found that a technological compulsion like 'social media addiction' comes with all the behavioural signals that we might usually associate with chemical addictions, such as smoking or alcoholism. These include mood changes, social withdrawal, conflict and relapse.

The most important factor is whether a person can differentiate between healthy use and a relationship with social media sites that is negatively affecting their life.

"If I take video gaming, for example, I've come across a lot of very excessive gamers," Griffiths explains, "but there's little known negative, detrimental effects in their life. If they did that for two years then maybe obesity or being generally sedentary might bring on some health issues, but in terms of addiction? Excessive enthusiasms add to life and addictions take away from it."

So, as long as that enthusiastic playing isn't affecting an individual's job or personal relationships, then there is no need for concern. Putting a time limit on social media use is, for Griffiths, "a bit of a red herring. You can have two people doing things identically - it makes a big difference if someone has a job, partner and two children."

This suggests that screentime isn't necessarily an accurate gauge for whether someone is using their favourite platforms problematically. When we polled BBC Future's Twitter followers for what they thought was 'too much' time on social media, there was little consensus. Of course, our results were from a self-selecting sample so do not necessarily represent the general population, but they were nonetheless interesting.

Over a third (40%) of the 554 people who voted thought that more than two or three hours was too much, but we know that most people spend at least two hours social networking and messaging every day. The majority of internet users do not have pathological relationships with social media, which surely means that two or three hours probably isn't too much at all. We know that over a third of UK 15-year-olds use the internet for six or more hours a day, with much of that time dedicated to social networking sites. Despite their heavy consumption, such heavy use does not mean these young people are mentally unwell. Time spent online is only one factor. There are clearly other things to consider.

So, if it's not about the amount of time spent, what else might define social media addiction - or help us understand what sort of person might be most vulnerable to it?

Griffiths and his colleague Daria Kuss published the first ever review paper for what he calls SNS (social networking sites) addiction in 2011, at a time when there were only three papers on the subject. They found that extroverts appear to use these sites for social enhancement, whereas introverts use them for social compensation. They also found that more time spent on these sites involved less involvement with real-life communities. In 2014, in another overview paper, they added that SNS use provides continuous rewards; users may increase engagement with it to relieve dysphoric mood states, sometimes leading to psychological dependency.

Then in 2017 a large, national survey found that those showing addictive behaviours were more likely to be women, young and single. They also tended to have lower levels of education, income and self-esteem.

"The thing about social networking is that it's a social behaviour. In terms of general sex differences and gender differences, the typical female tends to be more social than the typical male," says Griffiths.

For Griffiths, the potential for SNS addiction lies in content and context of excessive use - not the time spent. However, at a conference about social media and mental health at the Royal Society of Medicine, he concluded that the reasons behind such an addiction are still unclear. It could be to do with Fomo, the fear of missing out. Smartphone addiction might also be a part of it, as well as nomophobia - the fear of not having your phone with you at all times. More importantly, the data on SNS research is skewed toward Facebook, little is available about photo-based platforms like Instagram and Snapchat.

This means that social media, or SNS addiction, is a long way from being designated as a mental disorder. Amy Orben, a social media psychologist at the University of Oxford, says that for now, she has strong reservations about defining social media as an addiction. "The evidence is still so scarce it is difficult to even know whether the effect of social media is positive or negative. We need to make sure we don't overpathologise regular behaviours."

Whether it is one day classified or not - it is clear that there are downsides to using social media platforms. Research has suggested that young people who spend more than two hours a day on social networking sites are more likely to report poor mental health. If you're on Instagram, there are examples aplenty of overly-filtered simulations of life that are supposed to be 'aspirational' but instead make many users feel like we're having a worse life than our peers. It's of little surprise that Instagram was rated as the worst social media platform for young people's mental health in a UK survey. Yet its audience is growing - there are now over 800 million users worldwide.

We do know there is a direct link between social-media use and depression but other research shows that social media use is not always negative. One 2017 study found that the relationship between digital screen time and mental well-being works in a sort of upside-down u-curve. They call it the Goldilocks Hypothesis: - increasing doses of time on your smartphone or your computer is actually positively associated with well-being, but only to a point. Then, the dose is associated with lower levels of well-being, as the graph below shows.

The team found that moderate digital technology use "is not intrinsically harmful and may be advantageous in a connected world." One of its authors, Andrew Przybylski from the University of Oxford, told BBC Future that "if you don't have any access, or if there's a no screen policy in a home, there are ways that that home or that childhood might be fundamentally different".

He added: "There's a sweet spot where it looks like it's part of kids' lives, but it really doesn't start getting disruptive until you start going to five, six, seven hours a day."

When it does begin to get disruptive, or someone is online far too much, one solution could come in the form of pop-up warning signs. Griffiths says that they're currently used by online gambling sites and, more importantly, they're working.

"The way that we've designed these for companies is to make sure that all the messaging is done in a non-judgmental, non-confrontational way. You incorporate normative information to let people know how their behaviour compares with other people - you've gambled this much and it's 10 times what the normal person does. It doesn't say that's good or bad."

Encouraging users to self-appraise in this way could pave the way for a similar move in social media. These social comparisons could help individuals understand whether their use is comparative to their peers. A teen spending hours online during the day might be ok, but if a sign popped up at three in the morning saying "3% of your age group are online right now" you might recognise this as detrimental.

Unfortunately, if social media addiction is ever a recognised disorder - self-appraisal, and the realisation that heavy social media use is affecting us more than we think, might happen too late. Until then, a little self moderation might go a long way.
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How much is 'too much time' on social media?

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Describing yourself as 'a social media addict' doesn't usually inspire concern from other people. In fact, it's frequently included in bio descriptions on Twitter and Instagram. Decorate your LinkedIn profile with such a claim and you may even find yourself receiving interest from media and publishing companies searching for a savvy digital native.