02 – Supporting the need for a more positive experience on social media

A study recently conducted by telecom operator O2, has shown that 14-24 year-olds are one of the heaviest phone user groups, and they are also aware of the impact that social media can have on their mental health – with 77% recognising the need for a better relationship with technology and the online world.

With the help and input of young people #OwnYourOwnFeed runs for four weeks at the start of January and will focus mainly on Instagram, incorporating a different weekly theme. There will be a #OwnYourFeed online hub, which will feature stories and advice from 12 specially selected youth ambassadors and also tips from O2 Gurus.

During the first week, young people are encouraged to ‘know’ their feed by becoming more aware of the content they see on their social media pages, and subsequently how that affects them. ‘Know your feed’ is centered around an interactive quiz that young people can take to discover what kind of social media feed they currently have and how this can be made a safer and more positive place for themselves and people they know. In the following weeks, the campaign supports and encourages young people to ‘clean’ their feed by unfollowing accounts that make them feel negatively about themselves, and also to build positive relationships with like-minded people.

Tom Madders, Director of Campaigns at YoungMinds, said:

“Social media is an everyday part of life for most young people which can offer huge social and emotional benefits. But it can also put a lot of pressure on young people and make them feel worse about themselves, especially if they compare their own lives to the apparently perfect lives that others are leading. If you feel like your life doesn’t match up, it can have a negative impact on your mental health.

Young people tell us that they love being connected with social media and couldn’t be without it, they just want to be able to be online in a positive way. They tell us that sometimes their behaviour on social media and the content they see there can bring them down, but they’re not sure how to work out what’s going wrong, and what they can do to make their online world a better place to be.

We hope that #OwnYourFeed will help young people to make their social media experience more positive and give them the tips and advice to take control of their online worlds.”

John, 18, YoungMinds activist, says:

“I’ve noticed when my mental health hasn’t been so good, that I tend to use social media as a distraction. But I, like many others, will often see things that will make me feel isolated and low. I wasn’t even aware at first how what I saw on online could affect me and how damaging it was to my mental health.”

It can be so easy to let social media take over but it’s really important that you control it rather than the other way around. It can be a really positive tool that can not only help you but allows you to support those around you too. That’s why I’m taking part in #OwnYourFeed to make my social feeds more positive for my mental health.”

Nicola Green, Corporate Affairs Director at O2, said: “We know that young people are very switched on to the impact social media can have on their digital wellbeing and mental health – and as a responsible business we have our part to play in helping them live better with tech. That’s why we’ve teamed up with YoungMinds to launch #OwnYourFeed: sharing our tech know-how to help create a peer-to-peer, youth-led, social campaign that’s all about empowering young people to have a more positive time online.”