New research suggests the mental health of young Australians plummeted around the same time online platforms 'Snapchat' and 'Instagram' emerged. The survey found young women's self-reported mental health scores dropped from 73% to 62% in 2012. The e61 institute for economic research says the findings suggest they've been particularly affected by the proliferation of social media platforms.
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00:00These figures come from what's called the HILDA survey, the Household Income and Labour
00:05Dynamics Australia survey.
00:08It's a longitudinal survey, so it's got a common sample, but it goes back 20 years,
00:13so it's an excellent opportunity to see how, on a range of indicators, how individuals
00:18fare over time.
00:20For the most part, self-reported mental health has been pretty stable over that survey, except
00:25for this one demographic.
00:26For young females aged between 15 and 24, up until about 2011 it's fairly stable, and
00:31after that it drops pretty dramatically over the ensuing 10 years.
00:35And it drops a little bit for men and it drops a little bit for those over the age of 25,
00:40but it's something particular to that demographic and there's something particular to around
00:44the time 2011-2012 when that trend really sets in.
00:48We do have to be a bit cautious because we can't, as I say, nail the causal link to social
00:53media.
00:54We think it might be there, but it's a little hard to be definitive.
00:57So I think it's important to be cautious, but clearly the government is looking at things
01:01like age verification on social media, and I think that's to the good.
01:06But a lot of this won't be solved by government regulation, of course.
01:08A lot of this comes down to societal norms, comes down to parental involvement, and it
01:13may be that, as with a lot of the big social challenges of the past, this is best solved
01:18by getting more information out there in the community and more education for parents
01:23about what is appropriate.