Simon Stevens, the Chief Executive for the National Health Service in England, has accused several technology companies of several significant allegations.
Stevens Speaks Out
The government official spoke out about how the NHS in England is forced to deal with young people's mental health problems without the backing of several social media and technology outlets. He singled out both Facebook and Google during his presentation at the NHS Confederation annual conference in Manchester, England.
He forewarned attendees that the governmental organization could face a "double epidemic" of mental health and obesity regarding the United Kingdom's kids. Stevens noted that social media and technology companies should be doing more to protect their youngest users from issues such as abuse, addictive behavior, and mental health problems.
Building A Better Network
Stevens noted that it is up to the technology companies and social media networks to participate in finding solutions. He also suggested that schools should even get involved with contributing to the dialogue when it comes to cyberbullying and mental health problems. Stevens also indicated that they needed to investigate the factors that are causing UK kids to face these problems.
"This cannot be a conversation that is simply left to the NHS to pick up the pieces for an epidemic of mental health challenge for our young people, induced by many other actors across our economy," said Stevens to the Guardian.
Social Media And Health
The California Department of Public Health released a report that the state was dealing with an increase of cases regarding sexually transmitted diseases. One staff member noted that social media played a significant role in helping people find sex partners. Other factors that could have led to the rise in infection rates could have been the lack of education, decreased condom usage, and fewer clinics that specialize in sexually transmitted diseases.
A group of researchers presented their work regarding how women use social media to a British Psychological Society conference. They found that women tend to be unsatisfied with their bodies if they spent over an hour a day on social media. One researcher noted that insecure girls and women might use social media to make them feel better about themselves. Another indicated that females who use social media could be suffering from anxiety, depression, or might have an eating disorder.
University of Queensland scientists suggested that taking temporary breaks from Facebook could be better for your health. They found that people who briefly considered a five-day break from the social media network had lower cortisol levels; however, they were unsatisfied with their life without Facebook. They felt lost without having access to their friends and wanted to get back on the platform.
Tech Times reached out to the National Health Service for a comment on this story.
