As an extension of theSun’s coverage on the topic of young men and the effects of the online world on their mental health, we interviewed Lifeline International policy director Dr Alan Woodward.
On top of being an expert on crisis helpline services, Woodward, who is based in Australia, has worked in mental health and suicide prevention for 25 years as a policy adviser, evaluator and researcher.
According to Woodward, those in his line of work and those adjacent to it are aware that the mental health and well-being of young people throughout the world are not as good as they used to be.
“The Lancet Psychiatry Commission on Youth Mental Health research from last year found evidence that their mental health, broadly speaking, had been in a decline for at least a decade.
“While the period around the Covid pandemic was particularly a difficult time for them, it seems that the long-term impact, in terms of their mental health, has not improved,” he said.
To Woodward, it is a challenge faced by most countries, as the manifestations of the impact can be seen in all manner of lives.
Barriers between generations
Pivoting to how young men are becoming increasingly moulded by influences from the online world and why parents are failing to notice it, Woodward stressed that there are several barriers at play that make it difficult for parents.
Firstly, he points out the most obvious factor: when someone is going through a mental health distress, simply put, they are less likely to disclose it to other people.
“Coupled to that is the influence of discrimination, social attitudes or stigma that may make people reticent to say ‘I am struggling. I am not coping with things. I feel terrible’. There is already that barrier that exists for younger people from talking to their parents.”
He explained that there is another element at play, such as the world that younger people live in now is quite different to the world that their parents grew up in.
“The world has changed a lot and it has created a divide in the generations, where young people might wonder if their parents and other older people can understand their reality. The online world or the digital world has certainly been a big part of that.
“It becomes very difficult for children and parents to relate to each other and this creates further difficulties in communicating and supporting each other in times of pressure and stress. Another thing worth mentioning is there is a lot of pressure on parents as well.”
Positives, pitfalls of manosphere
From the advent of the internet and particularly after its reach and availability expanded globally, it has been a refuge or safe space for many young and even older people. On the Internet, anonymity is power and discourse is often unfiltered behind it.
In its current form, the internet presents young people with material and content that are either positive or negative, and both are attractive. It is one of the reasons that the online world is as much a part of their lives as the physical world.
Queried on his thoughts on the “manosphere”, Woodward said it too has a positive and negative side.
“The positive side of that is that there is a part of the online environment that presents support and positive messages that help.”
He then referred to two findings from the Movember Institute of Men’s Health’s recent report Young Men’s Health in a Digital World.
“One of the things that the report found was about two-thirds of the young men surveyed were regularly engaging with masculinity influencers online. What they also found was that they enjoyed or found it satisfying to engage with these influencers because they felt that they were being motivated by them and that helped them develop a sense of purpose or control with their lives”.
He said it was understandable why they found the messages or content hopeful, especially if they were already experiencing a level of anxiety or unhappiness in their lives. However, he also pointed out that the research revealed these men were likely to report worse mental health outcomes.
“That is, they reduced their willingness to prioritise their mental health and engaged in higher rates of risky behaviour such as steroid abuse, exercising while injured or other unsafe behaviours.”
Role models, relationships matter
The conversation inevitably led to the intersection between the role of parents and the manosphere in the lives of young men. When asked about the role of fathers and other men in society as a prevention effort, Woodward said role models need to be truly helpful and wholly interested in guiding the young for authentic reasons.
“This is one of the things that is so important for young people to feel that they are valued and that the adults around them are interested in their lives and having livable, enjoyable lives.
“They should also be adults who are curious enough to ask and listen to what a young person is experiencing, rather than telling them what to experience or to do,” he said.
Though the landscape of mental health appears to have shifted, particularly for the young, Woodward claimed that issues that people contact crisis lines about have been roughly the same for several decades.
According to him, the most frequent issues are personal or family relationship.
“These can leave very emotionally-charged, distressed and difficult relationship issues to work through. The relationship we have with those closest to us have a really profound affect on our mental health and well-being. That has been constant for like 40 to 50 years. If we learned something from that, we really know the value in those relationships working well.”
Though most of the studies and research – for young men and their mental health – and Woodward’s experience is based on the West, it is something that is publicly increasing in Asia, particularly for a new “pattern” that Woodward and those in his field are seeing.
“One thing that has changed in recent times is we are seeing far more contacts from people who are profoundly lonely or socially isolated. It is really disturbing to see so many young people expressing that they have this loneliness and social isolation, where they are looking for company and contact with others. That I think is a real challenge, now and into the future.”