Online life isn't just scrolling - it's friends, laughs and learning new things. When adults listen without assumptions and act as positive role models we are better able to handle tricky moments and keep the good ones growing.

DIORA #DigitalBalance animations published for Mental Health Awareness Week

This year's Mental Health Awareness Week theme is Action. Action for yourself, action for someone else, and action for all of us.

The Digital Youth project Dynamic Interplay of Online Risk and Resilience in Adolescence (DIORA), a UKRI-funded study looked how we can strike mental health action in terms of creating a digital balance.

The team, which spans University of Nottingham, Queen Mary University of London, The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), King's College London and The University of Edinburgh, worked alongisde young people to discuss their online experiences and what digital balance means to them. The result was a series of 5 short animations, discussing screen time, social comparison, daily life, handling tricky online interactions and what adults need to know.

Watch the animation series below:

 

Digital Balance 1: Screen Time, Digital Activities and Feelings

 

Digital Balance 2: Social Comparisons

 

Digital Balance 3: Impact on Daily Life

 

Digital Balance 4: Handling Tricky Online Interactions

 

Digital Balance 5: Young People's Voices: What Adults Should Know

 

If you would like to learn more about the DIORA project, you can read about it in the Digital Youth programme report.

Digital Youth Report