Feed recommendations are the most common way teens encounter self-harm content
About one in three English secondary school students had come across self-harm content online in the past month. Most never went looking for it; the content typically appeared in their social media feeds.
A recent study has found that roughly one-third of teenage students in England have encountered self-harm content online in the past month. These encounters often occur unintentionally, with social media feeds and browsing suggestions being common sources. The study, published in Nature Mental Health, analyzed data from the 2025 OxWell Student Survey, which included 32,102 students aged 11 to 18 from various schools in Liverpool and Oxfordshire.
Factors such as loneliness, previous online harms, and poorer mental health were associated with higher exposure rates. Most students who encountered self-harm content experienced it passively, either through their feeds or suggestions while browsing. However, some students actively searched for or had the content shared by others.
The researchers noted that repeated exposure to self-harm content, especially through active means like searching, can create a cycle of increased distress and the risk of self-harming behaviors. The findings highlight the need for tailored public health interventions to address the diverse ways teenagers come across self-harm content online.
Written by urgent.news from PsyPost's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
