Well Being 

Hello all,

The Royal Children’s Hospital Melbourne has just released a new report on young people and social media use when it came to searching for health information relating to their concerns. Finding online health information that you can trust.

Not surprisingly the report found that almost all (90%) young people aged 12 to 17 years use social media with two thirds (68%) using it at least once every day and just over half (54%) using it multiple times a day. 

Nearly two-thirds of teens (63%) say they get health information from social media. This is more common among female teens (70%) than male teens (56%), and among older teens – 67% of 17-year-olds – compared to 54% of 12-year-olds.

These findings suggest that teens are exposed to health information on social media even if they’re not actively seeking it, as only 27% say they would turn to social media when intentionally looking for health information.

As a result of these findings, the Royal Children’s Hospital Melbournehave developed new resources to support both parents and young people to build skills in finding health information they can trust.