Is social media shaping world politics and is populist agenda now more important than democrasy?

EarthRod

There are those dealing with self-harm professionally who aren't convinced self-harm is on the increase.

They say we are more aware of it and the media has focused and looking out for it. In the past the word 'self-harm' didn't exist and nobody knew about it and/or didn't understated it.

With all the websites and organisations now dealing with self-harm and headlines blaming modern society and it's obsession with body beautiful and body image it's no wonder some people think it's on the increase.

Faust

So are you saying that the Children's Society report is wrong?
'Fifth of 14-year-old girls self-harm'

IronGiant

Unless I missed it, there is nothing in that link to say that self harm is on the increase as the report only looks at the figures for one year.  The NHS figures mentioned are not part of the report.

Sonic67

Self harm on the increase:

Self-harm rising among teenage girls

There has been a steep rise in reports of self-harm among girls aged 13 to 16, according to a study of data from GP practices across the UK.

Though thought to be down to GPs being better at picking it up or to rising stress levels.

The BMJ study, which looked at figures from 2011-2014, said GPs could be getting better at picking up self-harm.

But it was likely that rising stress and psychological problems in young people were also behind the trend.

The case study on the link, says Sophie was being bullied, she self harmed, she posted on social media, the bullying got worse. That's the nearest I can see.

You may be cyber-bullied and self harm as a result but then you could be bullied and self harm.:

Sophie Martin began self-harming when she was 12 years old after being bullied at school.

When her dad took her mum to court in a custody battle, she blamed herself.

"I thought it was my fault, I had to be punished for it. And that's when I started self-harming," she told BBC News.

She said: "It was a release, it was painful, but it made me feel better."

Things went from bad to worse for Sophie when she confided in her best friend about how she felt.

"She told her boyfriend at the time and then he posted it all over Facebook. That made the bullying worse," she said.

Sonic67

We have been told, at great length and backed up by graphs and charts - that it was the vicious, bigoted old people who voted for Leave, while the caring, tolerant youth voted to Remain.

How does that square with all this talk of Russian social media influence which has clearly had little or no effect on the majority of those most likely to be actually influenced by social media - the idealistic youth generation?

Faust

Big takeaway from the top of the news, modern living and in particular the pressures placed on young people through social media in part responsible for the increase of children self-harming.

Depends if you believe the BBC. I don’t think I can top that so nothing further to add.

IronGiant

There's no doubt in my mind that reports of self harm are increasing, which your link didn't address BTW (a point you ignored), and I'm sure that social media has something to do with it.

Sonic67

Looking at the data it looks like the Children's Society and the BBC went for a click-bait headline.

More than 11,000 (of a sample of 19,000) of these children answered a questionnaire about whether they had hurt themselves on purpose in any way in the past year. Out of the 5,624 girls who responded, 1,237 said they had self-harmed.

Only around 11,000 responded from a sample of 19,000. It's probably safe to assume most of those that didn't respond to the questionnaire weren't self harming so the 22% of girls drops to around 13%.

Then when you factor in the definition of self harm being can include everything from punching or hitting to cutting or burning and it has to have occurred at least once in the year before the questionnaire, the numbers aren't saying what the headline is suggesting.

Trollslayer

Lies, damned lies and...

IronGiant

If we put self harm to one side, I think we can all agree that cyber bullying is definitely a thing, that would never have arisen without social media to nurture it.