London - Children are plagued by loneliness and low self-esteem due to the pressures of modern life, ChildLine has warned.
The charity, which is marking its 30th anniversary, said new issues such as cyber-bullying and social media are affecting children’s confidence and self-worth.
It warned of a nation of ‘deeply unhappy’ youngsters dealing with fears and worries that did not exist three decades ago.
In 1986, when the 24-hour helpline began, children’s top concerns were sexual abuse, family problems, physical abuse and pregnancy.
Last year, the main issues raised were family relationships, low self-esteem and unhappiness, bullying – including cyber-bullying – and self-harm.
Children reported concerns about their online image, gathering social media friends and the desire to copy celebrities as they strive for the ‘perfect’ body. Overall, 35,244 of the counselling sessions held by the NSPCC-run service in 2014/15 were related to low self-esteem and unhappiness – nine percent up on the previous year. There has also been a huge rise in the number of sessions from 23,530 in 1986/87 to 286,812 in 2014/15.
NSPCC chief executive Peter Wanless said: ‘It is clear from the hundreds of thousands of calls ChildLine receives that we have a nation of deeply unhappy children. The pressure to keep up with friends and have the perfect life online is adding to the sadness that many young people feel on a daily basis.
‘The worries that young people face and the way they talk to us have dramatically changed since ChildLine was launched, and we will change to make sure that no matter what, young people will have a place to turn to whenever they need it.’
ChildLine’s latest figures reveal that girls are more likely than boys to be affected by low self-esteem and unhappiness.
This seems to coincide with secondary school years. One 13-year-old girl told a ChildLine counsellor: ‘I hate myself. When I look at other girls online posting photos of themselves it makes me feel really worthless and ugly.’
A 12-year-old girl said: ‘I feel like crying all the time. I’m constantly worried about what other people are thinking of me. I use social media sometimes but that just makes me more depressed as I hardly have any friends online and no one likes my posts/photos.’
The way children contact ChildLine has also changed. Thirty years ago, they got in touch via public telephone boxes, home landlines or writing letters. Now they are more likely to opt for an online chat or send an email.
Less than a third of ChildLine’s counselling sessions were via the telephone last year - 71 percent involved email or online chat.
ChildLine founder Dame Esther Rantzen said: ‘It is thanks to the skill and commitment of generations of ChildLine staff and volunteers over the last 30 years that we have been able to help more than four million children. But it is a national tragedy that British children are so unhappy.
‘I remember in 1986 how shocked we were to discover that so many children were suffering terrible abuse in their own homes. But today I am shocked by the acute unhappiness and loneliness that afflicts so many young people which means that, for many, the only place they can find comfort and protection is from our helpline.’
Daily Mail