A survey carried out by the charities of 2000 people aged 11-21 found that 60% of 11-14 year-olds have shared a picture of someone self-harming on their social media account. Sadly, it also found that around eight per cent of 18 to 21-year-olds surveyed have hurt themselves or know of someone who has.
Director of campaigns at YoungMinds, Lucie Russell said: “'These findings are extremely worrying and beg concerning questions about the relationship between self-harm, children, young people and parts of the online world. Our research shows that exposure to images of people self-harming online is far too common among children and young people and that this exposure is having a significant effect on their well-being.
Chief executive of Youthnet, Emma Thomas, believes: “we all have a responsibility to share content and images responsibly online and to be aware of how what we post might affect others. Far more must be done to educate and empower young people, so they can be safer online."
Considering this is not the first internet warning we’ve had this week - Europol warned parents about posting images online - it is important we are vigilant about what we share and what we allow our children be exposed to on the computer.
