Interesting research shows that Covid lockdowns are impacting teens' mental health (not surprising). Teens around the nation are under significant mental and emotional distress- the burden of online school, increased anxiety, withdrawal, and even suicidal thoughts. Young people have reported that when dealing with mental illness in lockdown, things have gotten harder for them. Expert advice to parents is to ensure their children are eating proper meals, getting a good amount of sleep, and even exercising. But for many teenagers this is the last thing they want to be reminded of by their parents. A study done in England on mental health in children and young people has found that girls are more likely to suffer from poor mental health during lockdown. Around the globe we have seen an increase in anxiety and eating disorders, Japan has even seen a rise in suicides. Children with mental health issues are more than twice likely to be from families struggling finically. Now, this is a lot of negative information, but there could be a light at the end of the tunnel, "health tech" has been slowly growing over the years, but now with the pandemic we're seeing a surge of growth. These apps offer things like chatrooms, resources, and even therapy sessions to those in need. Stem4, a youth mental health charity has seen over 500,000 downloads of their free apps Calm Harm (an app that discourages self harm) and Clear Fear (an app to help manage anxiety).
by: Tommy McClernon
link: https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2021-02-06/teen-metal-health-is-suffering-in-covid-lockdown-isolation-can-tech-help
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