Mental Health Festival focuses on youngsters’ relationship with tech

Young people and the impact of technology on their wellbeing is the focus of a week-long Mental Health Festival which opened at the Garrison Library on Tuesday evening. 

Two guest speakers from the UK, Dr Susie Davies and Ian Russell, are visiting local schools to give presentations and workshops to students on how to avoid the dangers that technology poses to them. 

Dr Susie Davies is a GP with a special interest in adolescent mental health and founded Parents Against Phone Addiction in Young Adolescents (PAPAYA) six years ago when she began recognising the link between technology use and poor mental health in students. 

She is also the author of the forthcoming book ‘The Healthy Selfie: How to Like Yourself in the Digital Age’ and was invited by local charity GibSams. 

Dr Davies said excessive use of technology has a negative impact on youngsters and their wellbeing. 

“The longer young people are spending on social media particularly, the more likely they are to feel depressed,” Dr Davies said. 

“So, in reverse, if we can get young people to spend less time on social media and more time doing other things that are good for their well-being, hopefully we can improve their mental health and well-being.” 

“I would love to encourage young people to connect face-to-face with each other, playing sport, reading books, enjoying time with their family, really trying to do it as many things as they possibly can that are off devices and are with people, because we know that's what's good for well-being.” 

She added face-to-face initiatives with the youngsters provides a fun, interactive, and judgement-free experience. 

“I want to hear young people's opinions, it's actually not about me telling them what to do, it's about listening to their experience, listening to how they're using technology, and asking them some big questions so that they can make some choices and some changes.” 

Mr Russell set up the Molly Rose Foundation, with the aim to prevent suicide among young people under the age of 25, following the loss of his daughter Molly in 2017 at 14 years old. 

“I was a very ordinary person living a very ordinary life, and then tragically in November of 2017, my youngest daughter ended her life,” he told the Chronicle. 

“Completely no signs, she seemed very happy.” 

“She was very forward-looking. She just completed her homework, and handed it in online the night before she died.” 

“And yet we woke up the next morning to find she was no longer with us.” 

“When we looked into the reason as to why that might have been, we soon discovered that on her social media accounts she’d been exposed to quite harmful content.” 

“Content that quite often, the platforms’ algorithms had suggested and recommended to her, and content that we thought shouldn’t be on such a global platform.” 

Her inquest five years after her death concluded she had died from an act of self-harm while suffering from depression and the negative effects of online content. 

Mr Russell hopes his role in the festival can raise awareness about online safety. 

“It's to raise awareness about online dangers so that we can better protect ourselves, and if we're parents better protect our children, and the best way of doing that is going into schools,” he said. 

“Our online spaces are barely regulated, and things can happen online that we would not accept in our offline world.” 

Minister for Health and Care, Gemma Arias-Vasquez, said that conversations need to be had regarding mental health. 

“It's fundamentally important that Gibraltar’s society participates in the debate,” Mrs Arias-Vasquez. 

The Director for Education, Keri Scott, underscored the Department for Education’s commitment to educating youngsters on the topic while encouraging a healthy relationship with technology. 

Also in attendance at the opening were the Minister for Youth, Christian Santos, the Director of Public Health, Dr Helen Carter, the GSD’s Joelle Ladislaus, Atrish Sanchez, and Roy Clinton, as well as the Mayor Carmen Gomez.