The Saskatchewan government is asking young people to disconnect this holiday season with #TakeaBreakSK. It’s a new campaign to promote mental and physical well-being.
Minister of Education Dustin Duncan said the campaign, which includes a website, also offers tips for parents and caregivers.
“Through this campaign, we want to remind children, teens and adults alike that it’s important from time to time to take a step away from their screens and find a healthy lifestyle balance,” Duncan said.
“We want to help our students, our young people develop healthy habits when it comes to social media and part of that is just knowing when it’s time to just step back, take a break from social media.”
The province is not alone in its concern. Social media giant Instagram has kickstarted a campaign to encourage youth to #TakeABreak from scrolling.
The Instagram campaign includes a new feature to keep younger users safe.
Instagram will track and detect how long someone has been scrolling for and will remind them with a pop-up they should be mindful of how much time they are spending on social media.
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Through the #TakeABreak campaign, Instagram hopes to empower people to make smart decisions about their time, and focus more on their present experiences and conversations.
According to the Canadian Paediatric Society, a 2019 study showed three-quarters of Canadian parents are worried about how much time their kids spend on social media.
Children aged 10 to 13 are found to spend more than three hours a day on social platforms.
“I think that if I have the reminder, I’ll be like, ‘Oh, I actually have been on it so long,’ and so I’ll be able to do my homework instead of procrastinating on my phone,” said Instagram user Isabella Beck.
Duncan believes young people can be greatly affected by what he described as false narratives on social platforms, such as the use of filters and edited images.
“Social media can have a negative impact on people’s mental health,” Duncan said.
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