{"id":63815,"date":"2018-02-08T10:15:36","date_gmt":"2018-02-08T15:15:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gayfriendschat.com\/socialblog\/social-media-companies-must-step-up-to-the-plate-and-help-us-tackle-mental-health-issues-online\/"},"modified":"2018-02-08T10:15:36","modified_gmt":"2018-02-08T15:15:36","slug":"social-media-companies-must-step-up-to-the-plate-and-help-us-tackle-mental-health-issues-online","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gayfriendschat.com\/socialblog\/social-media-companies-must-step-up-to-the-plate-and-help-us-tackle-mental-health-issues-online\/","title":{"rendered":"Social Media Companies Must Step Up To The Plate And Help Us Tackle Mental Health Issues Online"},"content":{"rendered":"

Social Media Companies Must Step Up To The Plate And Help Us Tackle Mental Health Issues Online<\/b>
\nLast month, Apple\u2019s CEO Tim Cook\u00a0spoke candidly\u00a0about his unease at what he called the \u201coveruse\u201d of technology, adding that he didn\u2019t want his young nephew to use social media networks.<\/p>\n

It felt like a symbolic moment, as one of the titans of the technology world hinted at personal reservations about social media when it came to his own family.<\/p>\n

As Health Secretary, I\u2019ve been\u00a0vocal\u00a0over the past 12 months about the need for social media companies to step up to the plate and help us tackle the mental health issues that research suggests is associated with to excessive social media use.<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s not because I am a Neanderthal but because fundamentally I believe in technology \u2013 provided it is harnessed appropriately. The\u00a0company I founded\u00a0before going into politics was in technology \u2013 we produced a number of websites to help younger people choose the right university or college course. I\u2019ve also been a\u00a0passionate champion\u00a0for how technology can improve our health system too, including mental health provision itself.<\/p>\n

But I do worry about unintended consequences. I worry for my own children, and I worry that as a nation we are sleepwalking into a situation where a whole generation of young people are spending huge chunks of their childhood online rather than investing in the deep and enduring face-to-face relationships that help them grow up as well-rounded individuals.<\/p>\n

When you have people like Sean Parker, Facebook\u2019s founding president, effectively admitting that the social media industry\u2019s business model is\u00a0built on psychological addiction, I think it\u2019s right to demand these firms to exercise greater restraint and responsibility in how they design, market and manage their services.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0latest Ofcom research\u00a0suggest that half of children aged 11 and 12 now have a social media profile, despite many platforms\u2019 minimum age being 13, and the average 12-15 year old spends over 20 hours every week online. These are two areas that could be addressed by technology providers stepping up and accepting responsibility.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why in the autumn, I met with the leading technology providers, including Facebook, Snapchat, Apple and Google, and set them a simple challenge: work with us and help us find solutions to these issues facing young people.<\/p>\n

It was a good, productive conversation and they agreed to come back in March with some hard proposals, which I look forward to seeing \u2013 but the clock is ticking, just as\u00a0the public\u2019s attitude\u00a0towards the ethical conduct of social media firms is hardening.<\/p>\n

Without question there is more that Government can do to improve support for children and young \u2013 and our\u00a0Children and Young People\u2019s Green Paper\u00a0sets out a comprehensive set of measures, including the \u00a35million I\u2019ve announced today to extend mental health training in primary schools.<\/p>\n

We particularly need to make sure there is greater availability of counselling services in our schools, better support for parents and faster access to specialist NHS therapies and treatments where necessary. At least 70,000 additional children and young people each year are expected to receive evidence-based treatment by 2020\/21.<\/p>\n

So here\u2019s the opportunity: if the future of technology is so promising, why don\u2019t Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram and Google make sure they are the solution, not the problem?<\/p>\n

That means tackling underage use with proper age verification; nudging people who are online too long; sharing data so we can tackle cyber-bullying and many other small measures that \u2013 taken together \u2013 will have a dramatic impact in making children safer online.<\/p>\n

We read a lot of hot air on social media every day, but this time it is action not words we need.<\/p>\n

Jeremy Hunt is the Secretary of State for Health and Conservative MP for South West Surrey
\n
\nwww.huffingtonpost.co.uk\/entry\/mental-health_uk_5a7c329ae4b08dfc93006dc8<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Social Media Companies Must Step Up To The Plate And Help Us Tackle Mental Health Issues Online Last month, Apple\u2019s CEO Tim Cook\u00a0spoke candidly\u00a0about his unease at what he called the \u201coveruse\u201d of technology, adding that he didn\u2019t want his young nephew to use social media networks. It felt like a symbolic moment, as one … Continue reading Social Media Companies Must Step Up To The Plate And Help Us Tackle Mental Health Issues Online<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2466,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-63815","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-misc"],"yoast_head":"\nSocial Media Companies Must Step Up To The Plate And Help Us Tackle Mental Health Issues Online - GAYFRIENDSCHAT.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.gayfriendschat.com\/socialblog\/social-media-companies-must-step-up-to-the-plate-and-help-us-tackle-mental-health-issues-online\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Social Media Companies Must Step Up To The Plate And Help Us Tackle Mental Health Issues Online - GAYFRIENDSCHAT.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Social Media Companies Must Step Up To The Plate And Help Us Tackle Mental Health Issues Online Last month, Apple\u2019s CEO Tim Cook\u00a0spoke candidly\u00a0about his unease at what he called the \u201coveruse\u201d of technology, adding that he didn\u2019t want his young nephew to use social media networks. It felt like a symbolic moment, as one … Continue reading Social Media Companies Must Step Up To The Plate And Help Us Tackle Mental Health Issues Online →\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.gayfriendschat.com\/socialblog\/social-media-companies-must-step-up-to-the-plate-and-help-us-tackle-mental-health-issues-online\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"GAYFRIENDSCHAT.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-02-08T15:15:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"GayFriendschat.com\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@gayfriendschat\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@gayfriendschat\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"GayFriendschat.com\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.gayfriendschat.com\\\/socialblog\\\/social-media-companies-must-step-up-to-the-plate-and-help-us-tackle-mental-health-issues-online\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.gayfriendschat.com\\\/socialblog\\\/social-media-companies-must-step-up-to-the-plate-and-help-us-tackle-mental-health-issues-online\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"GayFriendschat.com\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.gayfriendschat.com\\\/socialblog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/181913201d50f65b9bba7437f822a17f\"},\"headline\":\"Social Media Companies Must Step Up To The Plate And Help Us Tackle Mental Health Issues Online\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-02-08T15:15:36+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.gayfriendschat.com\\\/socialblog\\\/social-media-companies-must-step-up-to-the-plate-and-help-us-tackle-mental-health-issues-online\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":671,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.gayfriendschat.com\\\/socialblog\\\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"MISC\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.gayfriendschat.com\\\/socialblog\\\/social-media-companies-must-step-up-to-the-plate-and-help-us-tackle-mental-health-issues-online\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.gayfriendschat.com\\\/socialblog\\\/social-media-companies-must-step-up-to-the-plate-and-help-us-tackle-mental-health-issues-online\\\/\",\"name\":\"Social Media Companies Must Step Up To The Plate And Help Us Tackle Mental Health Issues Online - GAYFRIENDSCHAT.com\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.gayfriendschat.com\\\/socialblog\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2018-02-08T15:15:36+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.gayfriendschat.com\\\/socialblog\\\/social-media-companies-must-step-up-to-the-plate-and-help-us-tackle-mental-health-issues-online\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.gayfriendschat.com\\\/socialblog\\\/social-media-companies-must-step-up-to-the-plate-and-help-us-tackle-mental-health-issues-online\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.gayfriendschat.com\\\/socialblog\\\/social-media-companies-must-step-up-to-the-plate-and-help-us-tackle-mental-health-issues-online\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.gayfriendschat.com\\\/socialblog\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Social Media Companies Must Step Up To The Plate And Help Us Tackle Mental Health Issues Online\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.gayfriendschat.com\\\/socialblog\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.gayfriendschat.com\\\/socialblog\\\/\",\"name\":\"GAYFRIENDSCHAT.com\",\"description\":\"LGBT BLOG\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.gayfriendschat.com\\\/socialblog\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.gayfriendschat.com\\\/socialblog\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.gayfriendschat.com\\\/socialblog\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"GayFriendsChat.com\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.gayfriendschat.com\\\/socialblog\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.gayfriendschat.com\\\/socialblog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.gayfriendschat.com\\\/socialblog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/01\\\/Logo.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.gayfriendschat.com\\\/socialblog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/01\\\/Logo.jpg\",\"width\":243,\"height\":96,\"caption\":\"GayFriendsChat.com\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.gayfriendschat.com\\\/socialblog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/gayfriendschat\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.gayfriendschat.com\\\/socialblog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/181913201d50f65b9bba7437f822a17f\",\"name\":\"GayFriendschat.com\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/42a0cb75ed5dd34c6dc3e0aa48adf030c1c38a2c9dc59146f4afdf18e4bdf1d4?s=96&d=blank&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/42a0cb75ed5dd34c6dc3e0aa48adf030c1c38a2c9dc59146f4afdf18e4bdf1d4?s=96&d=blank&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/42a0cb75ed5dd34c6dc3e0aa48adf030c1c38a2c9dc59146f4afdf18e4bdf1d4?s=96&d=blank&r=g\",\"caption\":\"GayFriendschat.com\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.gayfriendschat.com\\\/socialblog\\\/author\\\/gayfriendschat-com\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Social Media Companies Must Step Up To The Plate And Help Us Tackle Mental Health Issues Online - GAYFRIENDSCHAT.com","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.gayfriendschat.com\/socialblog\/social-media-companies-must-step-up-to-the-plate-and-help-us-tackle-mental-health-issues-online\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Social Media Companies Must Step Up To The Plate And Help Us Tackle Mental Health Issues Online - GAYFRIENDSCHAT.com","og_description":"Social Media Companies Must Step Up To The Plate And Help Us Tackle Mental Health Issues Online Last month, Apple\u2019s CEO Tim Cook\u00a0spoke candidly\u00a0about his unease at what he called the \u201coveruse\u201d of technology, adding that he didn\u2019t want his young nephew to use social media networks. It felt like a symbolic moment, as one … Continue reading Social Media Companies Must Step Up To The Plate And Help Us Tackle Mental Health Issues Online →","og_url":"https:\/\/www.gayfriendschat.com\/socialblog\/social-media-companies-must-step-up-to-the-plate-and-help-us-tackle-mental-health-issues-online\/","og_site_name":"GAYFRIENDSCHAT.com","article_published_time":"2018-02-08T15:15:36+00:00","author":"GayFriendschat.com","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@gayfriendschat","twitter_site":"@gayfriendschat","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"GayFriendschat.com","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.gayfriendschat.com\/socialblog\/social-media-companies-must-step-up-to-the-plate-and-help-us-tackle-mental-health-issues-online\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.gayfriendschat.com\/socialblog\/social-media-companies-must-step-up-to-the-plate-and-help-us-tackle-mental-health-issues-online\/"},"author":{"name":"GayFriendschat.com","@id":"https:\/\/www.gayfriendschat.com\/socialblog\/#\/schema\/person\/181913201d50f65b9bba7437f822a17f"},"headline":"Social Media Companies Must Step Up To The Plate And Help Us Tackle Mental Health Issues Online","datePublished":"2018-02-08T15:15:36+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.gayfriendschat.com\/socialblog\/social-media-companies-must-step-up-to-the-plate-and-help-us-tackle-mental-health-issues-online\/"},"wordCount":671,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.gayfriendschat.com\/socialblog\/#organization"},"articleSection":["MISC"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.gayfriendschat.com\/socialblog\/social-media-companies-must-step-up-to-the-plate-and-help-us-tackle-mental-health-issues-online\/","url":"https:\/\/www.gayfriendschat.com\/socialblog\/social-media-companies-must-step-up-to-the-plate-and-help-us-tackle-mental-health-issues-online\/","name":"Social Media Companies Must Step Up To The Plate And Help Us Tackle Mental Health Issues Online - GAYFRIENDSCHAT.com","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.gayfriendschat.com\/socialblog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2018-02-08T15:15:36+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.gayfriendschat.com\/socialblog\/social-media-companies-must-step-up-to-the-plate-and-help-us-tackle-mental-health-issues-online\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.gayfriendschat.com\/socialblog\/social-media-companies-must-step-up-to-the-plate-and-help-us-tackle-mental-health-issues-online\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.gayfriendschat.com\/socialblog\/social-media-companies-must-step-up-to-the-plate-and-help-us-tackle-mental-health-issues-online\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.gayfriendschat.com\/socialblog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Social Media Companies Must Step Up To The Plate And Help Us Tackle Mental Health Issues Online"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.gayfriendschat.com\/socialblog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.gayfriendschat.com\/socialblog\/","name":"GAYFRIENDSCHAT.com","description":"LGBT BLOG","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.gayfriendschat.com\/socialblog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.gayfriendschat.com\/socialblog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.gayfriendschat.com\/socialblog\/#organization","name":"GayFriendsChat.com","url":"https:\/\/www.gayfriendschat.com\/socialblog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.gayfriendschat.com\/socialblog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.gayfriendschat.com\/socialblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Logo.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.gayfriendschat.com\/socialblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Logo.jpg","width":243,"height":96,"caption":"GayFriendsChat.com"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.gayfriendschat.com\/socialblog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/x.com\/gayfriendschat"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.gayfriendschat.com\/socialblog\/#\/schema\/person\/181913201d50f65b9bba7437f822a17f","name":"GayFriendschat.com","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/42a0cb75ed5dd34c6dc3e0aa48adf030c1c38a2c9dc59146f4afdf18e4bdf1d4?s=96&d=blank&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/42a0cb75ed5dd34c6dc3e0aa48adf030c1c38a2c9dc59146f4afdf18e4bdf1d4?s=96&d=blank&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/42a0cb75ed5dd34c6dc3e0aa48adf030c1c38a2c9dc59146f4afdf18e4bdf1d4?s=96&d=blank&r=g","caption":"GayFriendschat.com"},"url":"https:\/\/www.gayfriendschat.com\/socialblog\/author\/gayfriendschat-com\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gayfriendschat.com\/socialblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63815","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gayfriendschat.com\/socialblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gayfriendschat.com\/socialblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gayfriendschat.com\/socialblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2466"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gayfriendschat.com\/socialblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=63815"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.gayfriendschat.com\/socialblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63815\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gayfriendschat.com\/socialblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63815"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gayfriendschat.com\/socialblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63815"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gayfriendschat.com\/socialblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63815"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}