Hi, I'm Ms. Lowe, and I'm your RSHE teacher for today.

Thank you so much for choosing to complete your learning with me.

Today's lesson is all about social media and mental health.

And because of some of the themes and topics that we're gonna be discussing today, it's important that you complete your learning with the company of an adult.

Our outcome for today's lesson is that by the end, you'll be able to describe the potential effects of social media on mental health.

Every RSHE lesson should begin with a set of ground rules.

This ensures that every conversation had in RSHE is respectful and we're all able to learn effectively.

So Laura is reminding us that in RSHE, "We should listen to others.

It's okay to disagree with each other, but we should listen properly before making assumptions or deciding how to respond.

And when disagreeing, we challenge the statement and not the person." Andeep is reminding us to respect privacy.

We can discuss examples, but we don't use names or descriptions that can identify anyone including ourselves.

Izzy is reminding us to choose a level of participation that suits us.

"Everyone has the right to choose not to answer a question or to join in a discussion, but we never put anyone on the spot." And finally, Jacob is reminding us that in RSHE, there is no judgement.

We can explore beliefs and misunderstandings about a topic without the fear of being judged.

And here are our key words for today's lesson.

Let's go through the definitions together.

First, we have distort, to change or twist reality; mental health, the health of our minds and emotions; compare, to look at how similar or different we are to someone else.

And here is our outline for today.

So we're gonna begin by asking the question, how can social media affect our mental health? So social media allows people to connect with others all over the world.

The usefulness of social media has made it such a big part of our day-to-day lives.

And there are loads of positives to use in social media.

Some of them are that it helps us to connect with people; it can help to create communities of people who share similar values, interests, hobbies or passions; it can provide space to speak out and advocate for important issues; it allows people to explore new hobbies; it allows people to express their interests; and it allows people to show their talents and creativity.

One of the great things about social media is it gives us a glimpse into the lives of people that otherwise we probably would've never met.

This helps us to have a greater understanding of different types of cultures.

However, one thing that social media can do is it can distort our idea of what we consider to be normal in terms of how we interact with others and how other people live their lives.

If we lose sight of what is curated for online and what is reality, this can negatively impact our mental health.

Social media can promote unhealthy behaviours and interactions.

So Chloe is saying here that, "Some online communities thrive on toxic behaviour and cyber bullying.

It's not nice to see and it's not nice to be a part of." Experiencing cyber bullying can lead to serious mental health conditions such as depression or anxiety.

Remember, online bullying is just as harmful as in-person bullying.

Now we're gonna pause here and we're gonna check our understanding.

So I'd like for you to read this sentence and then complete it with the missing word.

Pause the video, have a think about your answer, and then we'll go through the correct one together.

Well done if you said distort.

Social media can distort our view of reality.

Our social media can be really fun and it can be super engaging.

Sometimes it can be so good that we lose track of time while we're using it.

Ethan says sometimes he can spend hours at a time just scrolling through posts on social media or watching short videos.

Now social media is actually designed in a way that makes you want to keep using it, because of the dopamine burst that we receive while engaging with social media, our brains want to feel that feeling more and more and more.

So the more that you use social media, the more you want to.

For example, social media sites are often designed to trigger quick dopamine releases.

Dopamine is a reward hormone and it's released in the brain when we see or we do something that we enjoy.

Watching lots of content in quick succession can cause our brains to release bursts of dopamine, which in turn can lead our brain to become addicted to it.

Now online addiction is a compulsion to use the internet.

If a person experiences online addiction, it may impact their mental health by causing trouble sleeping, making it difficult to maintain personal relationships, causing low self-esteem, making it difficult to communicate with people in-person, and making it more likely that you're gonna compare yourself with other people that you see online.

We said before that social media can distort the way that we see reality and it can also distort how we see ourselves.

Izzy says that everyone she sees on social media look so perfect and it makes her wonder why she doesn't look like them.

Having a distorted image of ourselves compared to others online can impact our mental health in negative ways, such as causing low self-esteem and poor body image.

Social media can also experience to cause people to experience something called fear of missing out.

Seeing others living a particular lifestyle, having a certain amount of wealth, or having particular material possessions that we want can make us feel like we are the ones missing out.

This can lead us to feel unsatisfied with our lives and it may spiral into more serious mental health concerns.

We're gonna pause here again and check our understanding.

Social media can distort how we see ourselves, causing: read through those three options.

Fill in the blank in the sentence and we'll go through the right answer together.

Well done if you said lowered self-esteem.

Now we're gonna pause here and we're gonna put our learning into practise.

So I would like for you to explain how social media can affect mental health, and I'd like for you to try and use the following in your answer: unhealthy interactions, relationships with others, and distortion of reality.

So pause the video, write down your answers, and then we'll go through what you might have written in just a moment.

Excellent work there.

So I asked you to explain how social media can affect mental health, and you might have said: although time online can be fun and engaging, too much time on social media can impact our mental health.

For example, we may encounter harmful behaviour and interactions which can lead to serious mental health conditions.

Furthermore, online addiction can impact mental health because it can cause problems in offline relationships, for instance, it can make it difficult for people to communicate with others in-person.

Finally, a social media content often distorts reality.

It can lead to people comparing themselves to others online and cause people to want to fit into unhealthy beauty standards.

A big well done if you mentioned any of those things in your answer.

We are moving on now to the second part of our lesson where we're asking the question, what happens when we compare ourselves to others? Now social media makes comparing yourself to another person much easier than it would be in person.

However, when we compare ourselves to others online, it can have a negative impact on our mental health.

For example, Chloe has been comparing herself to others online.

She says, "I spend a lot of time on social media, looking at what friends and influencers are doing.

It started off out of interest, but I'm started to compare my life to theirs." Now Chloe, when she's online, is seeing pictures of her friends and influencers on holiday, buying nice things, and doing lots of fun activities.

"Everyone looks like they're doing so many fun things all the time.

Their lives look so perfect." Now because of this, because Chloe is starting to compare her life, her lifestyle with other people, she starts to feel jealous of what other people have and what other people do, and that leads to her feeling dissatisfied and unhappy with her own life.

What Chloe doesn't realise is that what she sees online is really a distorted view of their reality.

Now, because Chloe is comparing herself to others, she starts to question herself.

She says, "Why can't my life be like that? People must think I am so boring and not as good as them." The constant comparison she's engaging with online starts to distort her view of how she appears to others.

So we're gonna pause here.

I'm gonna check our understanding.

True or false? Social media makes it easy to compare yourself to others.

Well done if you said true.

So Chloe is then beginning to not only compare her lifestyle to others, but also the way that she looks.

She says, "This influencer's skin and hair looks so perfect.

Why don't mine look like that?" When people frequently compare their physical appearance to others online, it can lead to a harmful mental health conditions, such as body dysmorphia, which is where a person becomes obsessive about the way that they look to themselves and others.

It can lead to poor body image, anxiety or depression.

Social media is created and made to entice people through its promotion of exciting and engaging content.

But when we use in social media, it's important to remember that not everything we see on social media is reality.

What we're seeing online is often a curated image of a person's lifestyle.

They'll post all the good things, but they'll leave out the negatives.

They'll post a picture of a beautiful holiday, but they might leave out days where it was rainy or they didn't have such a great time.

People distort reality on social media by only posting content that reflects their best moments.

And people can use filters to alter the way that they look.

Comparison to others on social media is easy to do, but there are some ways that we can avoid falling into this comparison trap, such as: limiting our time on social media, spending time with people offline who make you feel joy and make you feel good about yourself, we can also focus on our own achievements and our own goals, and we can remind ourselves that everybody is unique.

And remember, it's that uniqueness that makes us all special.

We can also remind ourselves that everything that we see online is not a reflection of reality.

And finally, we can follow content that promotes body positivity or authenticity.

If you ever find yourself in a comparison trap on social media or you feel like your mental health is suffering as a result, you should speak to a trusted adult like a parent/carer, or a medical professional.

We're gonna check our understanding here about what we've just learned.

There are no positive ways to use social media to protect our mental health.

Is this true or false? Well done if you said false.

Why is this false? Well, there are positive ways.

For example, by following accounts that promote body image or positive body image or authenticity.

And by remembering that everything on social media is not always a reflection of reality, and that we are all unique.

Now we're gonna put our learning into practise.

So you've got two tasks here.

Firstly, I'd like you to explain to Chloe three effects that comparing herself to others on social media can have.

She says, "I spend a lot of time on social media looking at what friends and influencers are doing.

It started off out of interest, but now I'm starting to constantly compare myself and my life to theirs and it's making me feel down.

I don't know how to break out this cycle." Then, I'd like for you to answer the question, how can Chloe break out of this comparison trap and access support? Pause the video, write down your answers, and we'll go through some things that you might have said together.

So firstly, you were asked to explain to Chloe three effects that comparing herself to others on social media can have.

And in your answers you might have said: it could create feelings of jealousy; it can cause low self-esteem and poor body image; and it can cause serious mental health conditions, such as depression and anxiety.

Then, you were asked to explain to Chloe how she can break out of this comparison trap and access support.

You might have said: Chloe could try to follow more body positive or authentic accounts on social media and limit her exposure to content that makes her feel bad.

She could also prioritise spending time with people who make her feel joy offline.

For support with her mental health, she could speak to a trusted adult, like a parent/carer, or medical professional.

Now we're gonna end today's lesson with a summary of what we've learned together.

Social media allows us to stay connected with friends, family, and loved ones all over the world.

Social media is designed to keep people using it, which can make comparisons online easy.

Due to people only posting the positives of their lived experiences, it can distort what we see as normal.

The way we use social media can have a negative impact on our mental health and can cause issues, such as depression and anxiety.

If we are ever concerned about our mental health as a result of social media, we can speak to a trusted adult or medical professional who can provide us with support.

And if any of the topics or issues that we've discussed today concern you in any way, here are some places you can go to to access support.

First, we have Childline, a website and phone line which is able to offer confidential advice and support; CEOP, which helps protect children from online abuse and exploitation; Internet Matters, which teaches children and parents how to stay safe and happy online while using the internet.

I'd like to end today's lesson by saying a huge well done for all of your fantastic learning, and I look forward to seeing you in another RSHE lesson soon.