Social media could be a dying trend, with a study rom Digital Awareness UK releavling that nearly two-thirds of school pupils would not care if social media did not exist, a study found.

Some 71 per cent of survey respondents also said they had taken digital detox breaks to escape from social media.

More than half (57 per cent) of pupils quizzed said they had received abusive comments online, 56 per cent admitted to being on the edge of social media addiction, and 52 per cent said it makes them feel less confident about their looks or how interesting their life is.

While more than 60 per cent believed friends show a ‘fake version’ of themselves on social media, 85 per cent of pupils questioned by Digital Awareness UK on behalf of the Headmasters’ and Headmistresses’ Conference denied doing that themselves.

The feedback was not all negative, with pupils identifying memes, filters/lenses and storytelling features, such as Snapchat Stories, among the things they like about social media.

Asked to recommend improvements, they suggested less advertising (71 per cent), less fake news (61 per cent), more creative content (55 per cent) and greater privacy (49 per cent).

Charlotte Robertson, of Digital Awareness UK, said it was “a matter of concern to see the emotional impact social media is having on young people’s health and well-being” but it was encouraging some were using “smart strategies such as digital detoxing”.

Categories: Articles, Consumer Behaviour, Research, Social Media