INTRODUCTION
Few professionals working in healthcare can fail to notice that there is a significant problem with the psychological wellbeing of many adolescents and young adults. As a GP and a consultant in emergency medicine, we annually attend numerous young patients presenting with any combination of anxiety, depression, and self-harm, yet this has not galvanised professional or public discourse in the way diabetes or obesity have. Of particular concern is the alarming apparent rise of these problems in girls and young women. A 2017 UK practice-based study of self-harm showed a 68% rise in incidence in girls aged 13–16 years between 2011–2014.1 There is, of course, no single explanation for this; however, the confluence of a number of factors suggests that millennials are less happy than earlier generations. These include increasing youth unemployment2 as well as loss of social mobility and decreasing affordability of housing delaying maturation into the independent adult role.3 More recently, there has been increasing interest in the role of social media in this matter.
THE ROLE OF SOCIAL MEDIA
Today’s adolescents and young adults are more tech-savvy than any previous generation; however, discussion of IT must acknowledge concerns about the potential negative consequences on psychological health, including its addictive potential.4 O’Keefe and Clarke-Pearson describe the phenomenon of ‘Facebook depression’ as a:
‘... depression that develops …