Save our youngsters from this dystopian net – it’s not a movie, say Sara Wallis

Images of suicide and self-harm flash endlessly.

Dark and depressing content is streamed direct to personal devices on a daily basis. A multitude of voices, some of them robots, chatter constantly, telling you to look better, be better, have more fun, travel more, make more friends… be happy. While ironically, everything is geared to make you sad. You’re set up to fail.

It all sounds like something out of a futuristic, dystopian movie where everyone is being brainwashed. One where eventually, some tech whizz hacks the system, cracks the code at the 11th hour and saves humanity. Except that it’s not a film. It’s all alarmingly real. And it’s all a nightmare.

For the family of 14-year-old Molly Russell, who killed herself after being exposed to a barrage of harmful online content, they are still living this nightmare. Molly, from London, had seen more than 2,000 damaging posts in the last six months of her life. Seven years on, her dad Ian Russell says too little has been done to regulate social media and it’s costing young lives. “In some respects, the risks for teens have actually got worse,” he says. “It’s a matter of urgency.”

This week the parents of 11 children whose deaths they link to social media activity, urged Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer to do all they can to force tech giants to tackle the risks on their platforms. Those 11 children include 12-year-old Archie Battersbee, who died after an online prank went wrong, 16- year-old Brianna Ghey, murdered after one of her killers saw violent material on the dark web and 14- year-old Mia Janin, who took her own life after being relentlessly cyber-bullied. As a parent, this makes my blood run cold.

The dangers, from being groomed and trolled to turning to self-harm or violence, are chilling. How many more children are struggling in secret? New research from Girlguiding has revealed that girls’ happiness levels are at a 15 year low. More than two thirds of girls aged 11 to 21 feel ashamed of the way they look compared to online images. What world are we living in where fake ‘perfect’ pictures are being used to pressure kids for profit? Where misery is monetised?

Businesses, brands and influencers should be forced to own up when images are manipulated. Tech platforms must stop their algorithms that recommend harmful and toxic content and use robust age checks. If something is not done soon, if the Online Safety Act is not toughened up fast, we are hurtling towards inevitable tragedy – and there is no action hero to save us.

The Samaritans is available 24/7 if you need to talk. You can contact them for free by calling 116 123, email [email protected] or head to the website to find your nearest branch. You matter.