Health chiefs are targeting social media users in Gedling borough with a new campaign which aims to stop them scrolling through sites for one month in a bid to boost their mental health.
The UK’s Royal Society for Public Health (RSPH) is calling on people to stop using platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Snapchat in September — or to cut down the amount of time they spend on the platforms.
The Scroll Free September campaign has been launched amid growing concern about the impact of social media on mental health.
The campaign follows in the footsteps of health awareness months such as Dry January, when people cut back on alcohol, and Stoptober, when smokers are encouraged to quit.
Shirley Cramer, chief executive of RSPH, said Scroll Free September gives users in the borough the chance “to take back control of our relationship with social media”.
Claire Murdoch, NHS England’s national director for mental health, said: “Scroll Free is right to highlight growing concerns that social media is contributing to increasing mental health issues in young people and a major ramp up of services will be needed to deal with the problems as part of the NHS 10-year plan.”
“We need to see concerted action, with everyone taking responsibility, including social media giants, so the NHS is not left to pick up the pieces of a mental health epidemic in the next generation.”
Those in the borough taking part in the campaign, which runs from September 1 to September 30, will be encouraged to stop using or cut down time on personal social media accounts.
They can continue using instant messaging platforms and social media for work.
- Gedling Eye now has a Whatsapp group so you can keep up to date with the latest news from across the borough. We will send you one message a day with our main headlines, as well as the big breaking news alerts. To sign up text NEWS to 07958532672. Make sure you add the number to your contacts as ‘Gedling Eye’. We won’t share your phone number or use it anywhere else.
I wish the whole of nevo would do this so they didn’t clog up Facebook with their pointless rubbish. Who cares if there high street is empty ours isnt