The TV series, Adolescence, has recently re-ignited a global debate around online misogyny and violence against women and girls. The drama follows the family of a 13-year-old schoolboy who is arrested for killing a female classmate and explores the impact of social media and misogynist influencers. One key takeaway from the series was a moment in…

Every year, World Sleep Day is held to celebrate the importance of healthy sleep and raise awareness of sleep-related issues. It’s crucial that those of us working with children and young people understand how sleep impacts their overall wellbeing, especially related to the growing influence of social media. In this blog, we’ll discuss the links…

Findings from the literature, with a focus on self-harm and suicidality In today’s digital age, social media is integral to children and young people’s lives. Its significant challenges, however, have been well documented, particularly concerning mental health. From Jonathan Haidt’s damning book, the Anxious Generation, to Swiped, a recent Channel4 documentary showing the impacts of…

By Lorraine Glass, Director, respectme – Scotland’s Anti-Bullying Service “I don’t make it my business to strike terror into the hearts of children – after all, it somewhat goes against the brief! …however I recall exactly the moment that I did just that, and wanted to share it with you. Almost a decade ago (scary…

We recently attended the Online Safety Live Event 2024 in Glasgow, run by the UK Safer Internet Centre, and here are some of the key things that we learned: Promoting the online safety of children and young people is a key policy priority in Scotland and the UK (Online Safety Act, Internet Safety for Children…

We re-launched our Aye Mind project just over a year ago and are sharing some highlights of what we achieved in that time:

It’s no longer possible for us to support a child or young person’s (CYP) mental health without thinking about the online environment. This includes being aware of the risks of the online environment and encouraging CYP to maximise the benefits of being online. It also means knowing the benefits of digital tools in promoting wellbeing…

By Dr Zhuoni Xiao, Research Fellow, and Sarah Robertson, Youth Engagement Lead, on behalf of the Loneliness in the Digital World team, Generation Scotland. Loneliness and Social Interaction Loneliness has been identified as an important public health issue, peaking during adolescence (Park et al., 2020). Previous research has suggested that social interaction is a key…

This is the first blog in a special social media series looking at popular social media platforms that are used by children and young people. The series aims to help you develop a foundational understanding of common platforms and how to support children and young people who use them to have a safe and positive…

Gaming is extremely popular with children and young people: 57% of UK children aged 3-15 play games online and 38% of those 16+ do (Ofcom, 2023). It can feel hard to keep up to date with the latest games, know their mental health impact, be aware of the key safety concerns, and how to support…

Sextortion has been in the news a lot lately. Increasing reports of young people being targeted and the devastating consequences that this can have on their lives led the National Crime Agency (NCA) to issue an unprecedented alert to UK schools about the rise in risk of sextortion. Those of us supporting young people need…

When we think about children and young people going online, often one of our main concerns is making sure that they are safe and have a positive experience. We know there is a range of online harms that they might come across, from bullying, online pornography, sexual exploitation and abuse, to content promoting self-harm or…

By Jane Grant, Health Improvement Lead, and Laura Hills, Health Improvement Senior, NHSGGC, on behalf of the Aye Mind Collaborative  “Access to the digital world can no longer be seen as a luxury. Instead, digital inclusion must be seen as the cornerstone to ensuring social justice and equitable life chances for every child” (Unicef) The…

There is an ongoing and heated debate around the impact that “screen time” is having on children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing. This debate is being amplified across media outlets, which often claim that social media is causing a youth mental health crisis. You don’t have to go far to find alarming headlines…

Anxiety is a normal emotion. All of us can feel it, but sometimes it can get out of control and can lead to a mental health problem. In fact, according to the Mental Health Foundation, nearly all young people in their research (86%) had felt anxious in the previous two weeks, and for over half…

A guest blog written for World Sleep Day by Dr Dimitri Gavriloff, Clinical Psychologist and Clinical Course Tutor in Sleep Medicine at Oxford University. Dimitri also works as Clinical Engagement Lead for Sleepio. “I know I shouldn’t be using my phone.…” is something I often hear from the patients I see with insomnia. I wonder…

We began the re-boot project for Aye Mind with a big objective: learn from what we had done before, and have conversations with the community who will be using the site to really understand what you need from it (and our wider service).

The launch of Aye Mind is the result of months of hard work between the Mental Health Improvement Team at NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde and local partners. Everyone involved shared the same belief that digital technologies have a key role to play in child and youth mental health and wellbeing. We had the privilege…

By Trevor Lakey, on behalf of the Aye Mind collaborative How time flies! Around a decade ago, we took our first giant leap for youth mental health, and started out on a bold journey to explore digital approaches to youth mental health. Today, our Aye Mind relaunch gives us the opportunity to look back at…