At the workshop "Social networks and mental health of children and adolescents: An urgent issue for action" co-chaired by the Department of Students, Ministry of Education and Training; University of Education, Vietnam National University, Hanoi; UNICEF Vietnam and ZΑ Initiative organized, Mr. Duong Ngo Minh Nam, Deputy Director of the Department of Science and Education - Culture, Government Office said: Social networks bring many opportunities but also pose risks to the mental health of children and adolescents, posing an urgent requirement to protect children in the digital environment. Protecting children in the online environment is the responsibility of the whole society, not just the school.
To protect the mental health of children in the online environment, close coordination between families, schools, management agencies and the children themselves is very necessary," Mr. Nam emphasized.
Mr. Nam said that Decision 468 identifies 11 groups of key tasks and solutions, in which completing the legal corridor is an important content.
High school students have a higher rate of loneliness
From an educational perspective, Ms. Nguyen Thi Nhung, Deputy Director of the Department of Students, Ministry of Education and Training, cited WHO data showing that the rate of high school students feeling lonely is significantly higher than secondary school.
3.68% of secondary school students always feel lonely and 5.92% often feel lonely; in high school students, these rates are 6.16% and 10.14% respectively. 4.94% of students often feel anxious.
A major difficulty today is the limited awareness of mental health in a part of management staff, teachers, parents and students. The team of full-time school health workers accounts for only about 50.7%, of which only about 30% have medical expertise.
Ms. Nhung also said that the psychological fear of being "labeled" makes many students not proactively seek support when encountering mental health problems.
The education sector is aiming to strengthen communication, improve the capacity of teachers, medical staff and parents; promote screening, early detection, counseling and support for students, and at the same time strengthen school psychological counseling.
It cannot be solved just by banning.
According to Ms. Le Anh Lan, UNICEF Vietnam Education Expert, protecting children's mental health on social networks does not mean banning or separating children from the digital world.
Sustainable solutions need to balance the right to be protected from risks with the right to study, entertain, participate and be listened to. Social networks still have positive values, helping children connect, practice digital skills and develop themselves.
Policies can only be successful when we respect real-life experiences and put the voice of our own children at the center," Ms. Lan said.
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Tran Thanh Nam, Rector of the University of Education, Vietnam National University, Hanoi, said that children are growing up simultaneously in the real world and the digital world.
Children are growing up in two worlds: the real world and the digital world. Our responsibility is to make both worlds safe," he said.
According to him, the impact of social networks has both positive and negative aspects, depending on personal characteristics, family circumstances, school environment and how children use the network. Therefore, the problem cannot be solved by a single-sectoral solution.
Education, psychology, healthcare, technology and policy must sit at the same table," Assoc. Prof. Dr. Tran Thanh Nam emphasized.
Policies need to go one step ahead
Dr. Nguyen Thanh Van, ZΑ Initiative, believes that studies on social networks and mental health still have jamming factors and are difficult to draw absolute conclusions about causal relationships.
However, policies cannot wait until all scientific debates are over. According to him, many countries are applying "preventive principles", proactively minimizing risks for vulnerable groups.
This is also the basis for the trend of setting a minimum age for children to create social media accounts themselves, commonly around 13-16 years old depending on the country.
