Too many children and young people are experiencing distress, low mental wellbeing and mental health conditions.
Contrary to some of the noise about this, this isn’t about them being less resilient or less able to cope than previous generations, nor is it only down to social media and smartphones. This is an ongoing result of the environment and conditions in which they live, learn, play and grow.
Population-level evidence shows that rising emotional distress and mental health difficulties among adolescents began years before the pandemic, with clear signs of deterioration emerging from at least the early 2010s and accelerating during COVID-19 rather than starting with it. The pandemic did not create the problem, but accelerated and deepened it, disrupting education, peer relationships, routines and access to support at critical stages of development. Evidence from the UK and internationally shows significant increases in anxiety, low mood and behavioural difficulties since 2020, with the greatest impacts on children and young people already facing disadvantage
Children and young people today have experienced challenges that neither their parents nor grandparents faced. They lived through the worst global pandemic in living memory; families are dealing with high costs of living and financial insecurity and young people face uncertainty over their own prospects for future employment and access to housing. Furthermore, they are seeing the impacts of climate change happening around them leading to uncertainty about the world they will be living in within their lifetime. Add to this increasing global tensions and wars and rapid technological developments, some of which are shaping brain development and social relationships at key periods. Taken together, these pressures form a backdrop of insecurity that shapes how young people see themselves and their futures which can erode hope and agency. Given all of this, is it any wonder our children and young people are struggling?
We need urgent action to improve experiences and outcomes for our babies, children and young people. We must avoid over-simplifying solutions whilst applying a precautionary principle to emerging risks.
Technology – and particularly social media – is often singled out as the sole cause of the current crisis. This is an oversimplification. Digital environments do matter: some platforms amplify social comparison, expose young people to unrealistic standards, harmful content or online abuse, and are deliberately designed to get habitual engagement. There is evidence that how young people use social media, who they are, and what else is happening in their lives all shape whether digital experiences support or undermine wellbeing. What the research does not support is a simple, universal story in which social media alone explains rising distress. Online spaces can offer connection, identity and support that are otherwise unavailable. Enabling young people to realise these benefits must come with greater action to ensure online spaces are safe and well regulated.
While the evidence suggests the risks posed by social media are relatively small, the exposure to these platforms is near universal, hence these small effects at an individual level can generate a shift in risks and worsen outcomes at the population level. Risks associated with digital technologies interact with existing vulnerabilities and social pressures rather than acting as a single cause. Improving online safety must happen alongside addressing deeper structural and relational drivers of poor mental health, including poverty, inequality, pressure-filled education systems and reduced opportunities for play and connection.
The current crisis is multifaceted and cumulative, so must be our response. Children and young people are responding rationally to the conditions in which they are growing up. When we view rising distress in this light, the question we should be asking needs to shift from “What is wrong with young people?” to “What has happened to them and the worlds we have created around them?”
This reframing has important implications for action. Improving children and young people’s mental health cannot be left to specialist NHS services alone – important though those services are. Treatment is essential, but will never be sufficient if the upstream conditions that generate distress remain unchanged. A strong evidence base shows that mental wellbeing across the life course is shaped early, through relationships, material security and supportive environments in the first years of life.
Action needs to start from the very earliest of years as it is during early child development when the foundations for healthy relationships and longer-term health outcomes are set. Babies, children and young people need access to supportive relationships, protection from harms and opportunities to play, grow and flourish from birth through to adolescence and emerging adulthood.
Schools, early years settings and communities are critical protective environments when they are adequately supported and resourced. Equally, family incomes, safe housing, access to nature and to local support matter profoundly for mental wellbeing.
We need to invest in prevention and early support that is embedded in communities – not only in clinics. This includes youth work, family support, community-based mental health and wellbeing provision, and spaces where young people can belong, contribute and be heard. Such approaches are not “soft” options: they are evidence-informed investments in long-term population mental health and resilience.
Jim McManus is National Director of Health and Wellbeing at Public Health Wales
Emily van de Venter is a Consultant in Public health and Mental Wellbeing, at Public Health Wales
