Interview with High School Student

Hamish Karty is a high school student in year 12, who has experienced first-hand the effects that social media has on mental health. He attends a public school in Melbourne, where the social media craze thrives and is a major focus in the lives of the students. Hamish was kind enough to share some of his experiences in an attempt to educate others, and give an insight into the target market of this online obsession.

Listen to audio from his interview here.

Hamish covers a very important area in this interview, which could possibly be one of the main reasons why social media possesses the crippling power that is does - the publication of actions. The leading difference between social communication today in comparison to 10 years ago, is the online broadcasting of people's every move, which is particularly seen with teenagers and young adults. This becomes a prominent concern when mistakes, embarrassing incidents and other unwanted situations are posted online where they become visible to an audience and are remembered, rather than just happening in a passing moment.

This unrestricted online activity creates a platform for public humiliation and cyber bullying, which has been proven in previous studies which show that around 1 in 5 people under the age of 18 have reported that they have experienced cyberbullying in the past (IRIS Research, 2014).