A grieving father has revealed his teenage daughter’s disturbing search history before taking her own life, claiming social media took advantage of his daughter’s vulnerability about her understanding of healthy living.
Fitness trainer Robb Evans made the disturbing revelation on Nine’s 60 Minutes, telling the show his daughter Liv believed what she saw online over what he told her about how to live a healthy life.
Evans claimed that social media giant Instagram took advantage of her daughter “whether intentionally or not”, leading to the shocking act after a culmination of anorexia, brought on by bullying.
It comes amid calls for a social media ban for teenagers across Australia, as two US states prepare to enforce new rules for thousands of children online.
“People say, ‘I’m healthy and I live on 200 calories a day,'” Evans told the show.
“I said, ‘Liv, they’re lying.’
“I said, ‘You have to understand that these people could be saying they’re healthy,’ but I said, ‘You can’t survive on 200 calories a day and this is why.'”
Liv Evans was bullied at school and her father believes her use of social media caused her anorexia
Robb Evans said he wants laws put in place in Australia that restrict children’s use of platforms like Facebook.
Evans said Australia should ban children from accessing social media apps.
“I would compare where we are now to when we made the changes to the gun laws,” he said.
‘Yes, there are going to be some negative reactions, but we have to do this.
“It’s the right thing to do and you just have to take a stand.”
‘Instagram provides the perfect platform for vulnerable people to feel worse.
“I mean, he’s got a lot to answer for, for sure.”
American social psychologist and author Jonathan Haidt said there are key links to social media use and the rise in teenagers suffering from mental health problems.
“We have an international epidemic of depression, anxiety, self-harm and suicide,” Haidt told 60 Minutes.
‘What we saw was the almost instantaneous transformation of childhood in a way that I believe is incompatible with healthy human development.
“Something happened in the early 2010s that sent teen mental health into a spiral.”
Haidt said studies found that teenagers around the world were experiencing higher levels of mental health problems than previous generations.
“Something happened globally that sent mental health into a spiral,” he said.
Researcher Jonathan Haidt says teenagers are being deeply affected by social media
“The only theory on the table for why there would be a global change is the massive change in their daily lives when they adopted a phone-based childhood, based on having a smartphone, a front camera, social media and high speed.” Internet.
‘They spend more time on it and it harms them much more.
‘Chronic social comparison, all the other girls look better than you.
“Everyone uses filters or carefully edited photographs.”
Meta, the owner of Facebook and Instagram, has said it has taken steps to find and remove harmful content on social media.
Earlier this year, the company announced that it would begin hiding more types of content for teens and placing their accounts in the most restrictive content control settings.
“We regularly consult with experts in adolescent development, psychology and mental health to help make our platforms safe and age-appropriate for young people, including improving our understanding of what types of content may be less appropriate for teenagers,” Meta said in a statement. .
‘While we allow people to share content about their own struggles with suicide, self-harm and eating disorders, our policy is not to recommend this content and we have focused on ways to make it harder to find.
“We already hide results for suicide and self-harm search terms that inherently violate our rules, and we are expanding this protection to include more terms.”
This global crisis has caused Florida politicians to call for adolescents under the age of 14 to be banned from accessing social media, while those aged 15 and 16 will need parental consent.
Texas has also recently legislated that parental consent will be required before a user under the age of 18 can open an account.
Communications Minister Michelle Rowland says the Australian government will closely monitor how these bans work and whether they are effective.
Communications Minister Michelle Rowland (pictured) said she would be willing to impose age restrictions on social media if current laws in Florida, US, were successful.
“One of the key issues here is enforceability, incentives and how to get platforms to comply with these rules, and that includes whether the sanctions are sufficient,” Ms Rowland told 60 Minutes.
‘We are considering all available options.
‘We will continue to closely examine what is happening in Florida.
“If it works and has the desired effect, it’s certainly something we’ll consider.”
It comes after South Australia also moved to ban social media for children under 14.
The State Government has appointed former High Court president Robert French to conduct a legal review into the children’s account ban.
French will examine what regulatory and technological “pathways” the government could take to institute its ban.
Government policy would also require parental consent for 14- and 15-year-olds.
Meanwhile, in New South Wales, Premier Chris Minns said the summit would be held in October “to address the increasing harm that online platforms are causing to children and young people.”
Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek said the government was taking children’s mental health seriously.
“You forget how short a time these things have been around, actually, like the first iPhone 2007, social media really took off in 2009,” Ms Plibersek told 2GB.
‘It wasn’t that long ago.
‘During that time, we have seen dramatically poor outcomes for children’s mental health and wellbeing.
‘We are really seeing the numbers skyrocket.
‘Now, I can’t exactly say that one causes the other, but there’s certainly a link there, and it was there even before Covid.
“Many people say that children are isolated because of Covid, but this was already evident before Covid.”