BEYOND SOCIAL MEDIA PANICS FOR ‘AT RISK’ YOUTH IN MENTAL HEALTH PRACTICE

It has been argued that ‘self harm hashtags may be driving [an] increase of cutting in young people’ (Chang, 2014). These discourses frame self-harm, suicidal or eating disorder content that circulates across online sites – such as Instagram, Tumblr, Facebook and Snapchat – as seductive and powerful, posing a significant risk to young people with mental health problems. Young people in recovery from mental illness have conveyed similar concerns, as expressed in these television and radio accounts (ABC 7:30 and ABC Radio respectively).