索菲亞·史密斯·加勒（Sophia Smith Galer）
Image copyright GETTY IMAGES
現在20歲不到、伴隨著網際網路和社交媒體長大的一群人被稱為”Z世代”（Generation Z）。他們幾乎不了解Facebook誕生之前的世界。
那麼，他們又會如何處理網絡生活中面臨的獨特挑戰呢？
我過去一個月都在參加#LikeMinded，這是針對社交媒體及其對我們的心理健康產生的影響舉行的一系列特別活動。這也迫使我提出一個問題：十幾歲出頭的時候，我（如今已經23歲）的內心是否強大到足以應對圖片分享和即時通訊的狂轟濫炸？某些兒童甚至要比我更早面臨這些問題；據估計，這些服務在美國至少有750萬13歲以下的用戶，儘管註冊這些服務的最低法定年齡要求就是13歲。
對這個群體來說，社交媒體已經塑造了他們全部的生活。但也正因如此，他們才最應該擔心社交媒體是否會對其生活產生積極的影響。
在被問及相關問題時，青少年都會很快表達對平台的擔憂。在2017年的一項調查中，1500名青少年受訪者幾乎都表示，Instagram是對他們心理健康傷害最大的平台。那麼，應該由誰來確保他們在網上獲得健康快樂的生活呢？
來自學校和政府的幫助
由於在Facebook上有好友，在Twitter上有粉絲，年輕人似乎跟同齡人聯繫更為緊密，但社交媒體也並非沒有壞處。
19歲的博主凱蒂·麥肯齊（Katy Mackenzie）是一名來自英國德比（Derby）的學生，她專門在網上撰寫美容、生活方式和心理健康方面的文章。對她來說，社交媒體”是把我的文章分享給世界的關鍵”。
跟多數年輕人一樣，學校沒有教給她如何使用社交媒體——只向其傳授了基本的安全常識，但她原本就知道這些內容。”我認為，企業應該意識到人們何時需要幫助。”
Image copyright KATY MACKENZIE 對於像19歲的凱蒂·麥肯齊這樣的博主來說，社交媒體教給她一些學校沒有教的東西，比如如何撰寫能在網上瘋傳的文章，或者如何應對心理健康問題（圖片來源：Katy Mackenzie）
當你思考此事的時候，應該考慮兩個問題：有人感覺社交媒體公司做得可能還不夠，而學校或許也沒有真正意識到現代數字平台的現狀。這顯然對Z世代不利，他們的生活從很小的時候就開始與社交媒體相互交織。
英國皇家公共衛生學會發布的#StatusofMind報告，詳細闡述了對英國年輕人心理健康問題的幾大擔憂，以及社交媒體的使用是如何與焦慮、抑鬱和睡眠不佳等問題的增多聯繫起來的。
蘇格蘭的英國國家醫療服務信託（NHS Trust）製作了一份網絡資源，幫助醫療專業人士更好地了解年輕人面臨的新風險，其中列出的內容包羅萬象：它詳細闡述了各種信息，例如年輕人因為社交媒體上的信息流而導致世界觀發生扭曲，色情簡訊、復仇色情、網絡欺凌、隱私問題、賭博以及各種不當內容的獲取渠道。其中很多問題都跟社交媒體密切相關。
社交媒體公司本身也逐漸意識到各種關於心理健康的負面報道，以及許多未達法定年齡的用戶使用他們平台的案例。《兒童在線隱私保護法案》（COPPA）是美國的一部聯邦法律，為的是確保用戶至少年滿13歲才能註冊社交媒體帳號。
如果你知道有數百萬不到13歲的人也在使用這類平台，那麼我們的心理健康擔憂就應該把他們和青少年都包含進來。
Image copyright GETTY IMAGES 最年輕的年齡組是不到20歲的Z一代，他們並不了解沒有社交媒體的生活，這也給他們帶來了獨特的挑戰（圖片來源：Getty Images）
有幫助的應用
有趣的是，那些旨在為年輕人提供幫助的應用所使用的平台，恰恰也就是當初讓年輕人面對這些問題的設備——那就是智慧型手機。但這個問題最終卻變得異常複雜。
例如，TalkLife應用的口號是”分享生活中的起起伏伏！”他們自稱是”年輕人心理健康的同伴支持網絡。”你可以匿名發表內容，也可以給自己起一個用戶名。有一個發帖人寫道：”我不想活了。我甚至感覺自己都不配發這篇帖子。我不應該發帖。我就應該自己一個人憋著。我到底在幹什麼？我太迷茫了。”有一個人回復道：”你會挺過去的，寶貝。”還有一個人寫道：”如果你的內心認同你的文字，你就不會這麼說。想想看。你知道自己心底還是想活下去的。”
可能冒犯別人的帖子（例如暴力圖片）都會被標紅，並附加警告信息：”這個帖子可能引發不適。”
作為一個平台，它就像是為喜歡過度分享的人準備的樟腦草，尤其是那些既想獲得關注，又希望匿名的人——這在主流社交網絡上根本不可能做到。然而，這款應用本身其實並不提供精神病學方面的幫助或者健康方面的建議，而且這會引發一些顯而易見的問題。例如，在網上瘋傳的沙烏地阿拉伯應用Sarahah能讓用戶匿名溝通，但匿名反而會促進欺凌現象的發生，導致其遭到指責。所以，這款應用已經被谷歌和蘋果的應用商店下架。那麼，作為很多人眼中的解決方案，這種應用究竟能解決什麼問題？
然而，Sarahah和TalkLife已經證明，Z一代對他們最喜歡的事情有著明顯的訴求：在網上與同齡人聯繫，與之分享竅門、擔憂和故事。如果能夠得到更好的監督，便可從中挖掘出更有用的信息。
用好社交媒體
Big White Wall是一家獲得頂尖心理學家盛讚的網站，目前面向加拿大、紐西蘭和英國開放。它受到社交網絡早期發展的啟發，組建了一個同齡人支持社區，目前與NHS合作採取最佳做法，收集最新的證據。
Image copyright GETTY IMAGES 哈里王子去年訪問Big White Wall，這是一家位於倫敦的在線心理健康服務機構（圖片來源：Getty Images）
這也是一個多才多藝的平台。你可以保持匿名，還能在”Bricks”上給自己的想法設計藝術表情，以此來解釋自己的想法和感受。還有一些指導性的支持課程，教給人們如何應對抑鬱和戒菸等各種問題。他們還會根據你的興趣定製個性化的建議，讓你獲得更好的感受。Big White Wall給我看了一份案例中的證詞，那人說：”我發現幾乎不可能跟我的父母交流，我有點害怕跟朋友討論這個問題。能在網上跟別人聊一聊，真的非常有用。否則，我會把一切都壓抑在內心。”
該公司商務總監詹姆斯·德巴斯（James de Bathe）說：”我們的重點不是年輕人所能獲得的在線解決方案的數量，而是更加關注這些方案的質量和安全性。”
“任何個人或組織都能開發一款應用或一款在線服務，但某個人的心理健康卻是生死攸關的大事。我們相信，臨床監督、嚴格評估和質量保證應該成為網絡支持服務的基礎。”
對於Z一代在網上碰到的新困難，真正的解決方案或許應該像Big White Wall這樣——需要跳出主流社交媒體公司的利益之外去尋找答案，讓20歲以下的人通過他們成長過程中已經習慣的方式，就在這些網絡平台上相互聯繫。
有人希望Facebook和Twitter這樣的公司能夠降低成癮性，以此換取年輕人的精神健全。但這真的現實嗎？紐約大學市場營銷教授亞當·阿爾特（Adam Alter）認為，”他們的動機並沒有經過相應的調整，無法鼓勵他們考慮消費者的健康。”
“如果你在爭奪眼球，那就是一場軍備競賽——例如，如果沒有一個競爭對手暗示要停止這麼做，這些企業也都不會這麼做。如果他們不能持續吸引你使用他們的產品，就很難獲得和推薦收入。”
調整現有的社交媒體平台
但倫敦設計代理公司Studio Output並沒有因此而停止嘗試。該團隊為Instagram這樣的團隊設計了很多簡單的調整方案，試圖降低其用戶面臨的某些風險——前提是這些平台要有足夠的動力這麼做。
其中一項功能是”警覺算法”：如果它發現你的帖子包含的單詞表現出糟糕的心理狀態，就會給你推送一些快樂的新聞。如果你需要，它會給你推送一些好消息。其他的想法還包括智能通知功能，通過地理圍欄來判斷你什麼時候需要休息。計步器和其他活動追蹤器也可以衡量我們在社交媒體上的習慣，並鼓勵用戶設定目標。他們還建議根據資料的真實程度貼上不同的色彩標籤：如果一個帳號經常發布不真實、經過PS或者大量使用濾鏡的照片，那就應該標紅。
我問他們的戰略總監大衛·麥克杜格爾（David McDougall），他是否曾經認為社交網絡會部署這樣的變化。他回答說：”我的答案是：確實如此。他們完全有理由照顧自己的用戶，照顧用戶就意味著創造健康、快樂、可持續的環境。”
無論最終給年輕人帶來積極改變的是Facebook這樣的社交巨頭，還是Big White Wall這種新興的安全社交空間，對很多人來說，這種改變可能都為時已晚。
然而，由於Z一代比之前的任何一代人都更加渴望結識不同地方的人，分享他們對更加健康的社交媒體的看法，所以，他們這代人最終反而有可能最遵循自己的內心感受。在知道自己的孩子能夠得到應得的幫助後，那些擔心孩子盯著螢幕時間過長的父母，或許可以稍感寬心。
Survival Tips For The Social Ｍedia Generation
By Sophia Smith Galer
7 March 2018
Gen Z is unique in that it has been online since birth. That’s led to bullying, depression and more – but can also lead to connection, empathy and hope.
Never mind 『digital natives』 – today’s under-20s are social media natives. They have barely known a life before Facebook.
How are they dealing with the unique challenges of a life online?
I』ve spent the last month working on #LikeMinded, a special series about social media and its impact on our mental health. It’s forced me to question whether I (now at 23 years old) really was psychologically robust enough to confront the onslaught of picture sharing and constant messaging that arrived in my early teens. For some children, it’s arriving even earlier; it’s thought that at least 7.5 million users in the US are under the age of 13, despite having to be aged 13 or over to hold an account.
For this group, social media has shaped their entire lives. But that’s also why they』re the ones who perhaps have the most realistic concerns over whether it’s a positive force in their lives.
Teens are quick to voice concerns over platforms when asked, as shown in a 2017 survey where almost 1,500 teens said Instagram was the worst platform for their mental health. So who is making sure a life online is a happy and healthy one?
Help from schools and governments
Young people might seem more connected to their peers, with thousands of Facebook friends or Twitter followers, but social media hasn』t come without its downsides.
Katy Mackenzie is a 19-year-old blogger and student from Derby who writes about beauty, lifestyle and mental health, for whom social media 「was key to getting my posts shared and out there to the world.」
Like most young people, there weren』t any school lessons in how to use social media – just some safety basics that she was already aware of. 「I think companies need to realise when people call out for help.」
For people like 19-year-old blogger Katy Mackenzie, social media taught things school didn’t, like how to write viral posts or tackle mental health issues (Credit: Katy Mackenzie)
When you think about it, there are two issues there: a feeling that social media companies aren』t necessarily doing enough, and that schools might not be satisfactorily aware of the modern digital landscape. That’s not serving Gen Z well, whose lives are so interwoven with social media at such an early age.
The Royal Society of Public Health’s #StatusofMind report in the UK detailed several concerns over young people’s mental health and how social media use is linked to increased rates of anxiety, depression and poor sleep.
An NHS Trust in Scotland created an online resource to help healthcare professionals better understand the new risks facing young people and the list is considerable: it details everything from the distorted view of reality young people might have from their feeds to sexting, revenge porn, cyberbullying, privacy issues, gambling and access to inappropriate content. Many of those problems are specific to social media.
Social media companies themselves are steadily waking up to negative press about mental health and the many cases of underage users being on their platforms. The Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) is a federal law in the US stipulating that users need to be at least 13 years old to have a social media account.
If we know there are millions of under-13s on the platform, then our mental health concerns need to incorporate them as well as teenagers.
The youngest age group, those under 20 – Generation Z – hasn’t known life without social media, which has presented them with unique challenges (Credit: Getty Images)
Helpful apps
Intriguingly, apps are now surfacing to engage with young people on the very device that’s bringing them closer to these problems in the first place – their smartphones. But this ends up being pretty complicated.
The app TalkLife, for example – 「share the ups and downs of life!」 – calls itself 『the peer support network for youth mental health.』 You can post anonymously, or give yourself a username. One poster writes, 「I don』t want to be alive. I don』t feel worthy of even posting this. I shouldn』t. I should be alone with it. What am I doing? I』m so lost.」 Two people reply: 「you』ll get through this, babe. :(」 and 「If in your heart believed [sic] in your words you wouldn』t have said this. Think about it. And you know deep down you want to live.」
Posts that may offend, such as those with violent imagery, are coloured red and come with a warning: 「This post may be triggering」.
As a platform, it feels like catnip for over-sharers, especially those who want both attention and anonymity which is impossible on mainstream social networking sites. However, there is no actual psychiatric help or health advice on the app itself, and there are obvious problems that can arise from this. The viral Saudi app Sarahah that allows users to communicate anonymously, for instance, has now been dropped from Google and Apple app stores after accusations that the anonymity actually facilitated bullying. So, as a supposed solution, what do apps like these actually solve?
What Sarahah and TalkLife have proved, however, is that there is a clear appetite here for Generation Z to do what they most love: connecting with peers online to share tips, share worries, share stories. That could be mined more usefully with better supervision.
Using social media for good
One website that has been praised by leading psychologists is Big White Wall, which is available in Canada, New Zealand and the UK. Inspired by the early days of social networking, it’s a peer support community and now has partnerships with the NHS in keeping with best practice and the latest evidence.
Last year, Prince Harry visited Big White Wall, an online mental health service in London (Credit: Getty Images)
It’s a versatile platform, too. You remain anonymous and can design artistic expressions of your thoughts on 『Bricks』 to explain your thoughts and feelings. There are guided support courses to learn how to manage everything from depression to stopping smoking. They also personalise suggestions to you of how to help you feel better based on your interests. The Big White Wall gave me the testimony of one case study, who said: 「I found it almost impossible to discuss with my parents and I was a bit frightened of disclosing it to my friends. Being able to talk online to other people about that was really, really useful. Otherwise, I would have kept it all bottled up.」
Any person or organisation can create an app or an online service, but the responsibility for someone’s mental health can be a matter of life and death – James de Bathe
Commercial director James de Bathe says that 「rather than looking at the number of online solutions available for young people, we focus much more on the quality and safety of these.
「Any person or organisation can create an app or an online service, but the responsibility for someone’s mental health can be a matter of life and death. We believe clinical oversight, rigorous evaluation and quality assurance should form the foundations of online support services.」
Perhaps the real solutions to the new difficulties that Generation Z online should be like Big White Wall – answers that lie outside the corporate interests of mainstream social media companies, and which allow under-20s to connect with each other in the way they』ve grown accustomed to on these very online platforms.
How realistic is it that companies like Facebook and Twitter would try to make themselves less addictive for the sake of young people’s sanity? Marketing professor Adam Alter from New York University thinks 「the incentives aren』t aligned appropriately to encourage them to consider consumer wellbeing.
「If you』re competing for attention there’s an arms race – and companies aren』t going to introduce stopping cues, for example, if none of their competitors are doing the same thing. If they can』t keep you glued to their products, they』re unlikely to attract ad and referral revenue.」
Tweaks to current social media platforms
This didn』t stop London-based design agency Studio Output from having a go, though. The team devised a number of simple changes that a platform like Instagram could make, if there was incentive enough to do so, in order reduce certain risks for its users.
One feature is 『a mindful algorithm』 that serves you happy news if it spots that your posts include words that flag poor mental wellbeing, giving you good news if you needed it. Other ideas are smart notifications that are geo-fenced to know when you need some downtime. Activity trackers that, like step-counters or other physical trackers we use, actually measure your social media habits and encourage users to set goals. They also suggest colour-coded profiles, depending on how realistic profiles are; those accounts that regularly post unrealistic, Photoshopped or heavily filtered body images will be flagged red.
It makes good business sense to look after your users, and looking after your users means creating a healthy, happy and sustainable environment – David McDougall
When I asked their strategy director, David McDougall, if he ever thought social networking sites would ever implement changes like this, he said 「my answer is undoubtedly yes. It makes good business sense to look after your users, and looking after your users means creating a healthy, happy and sustainable environment.」
Whether it’s the social behemoths like Facebook or the upcoming social safe spaces like Big White Wall who finally instigate change for young people, for many the change may already come too late.
But with a generation that’s hungrier than ever to connect across continents and share their ideas for a healthier social media landscape, Generation Z might actually be the age group that’s most in-tune with their feelings after all. Parents worried that their kids are spending too much time staring at a screen might relax a little in the knowledge that they may well be getting the help they deserve.