ENGAGING YOUNG PEOPLE WITH POLICY The Child’s Obesity Strategy Effects of social media on health and wellbeing

The Child’s Obesity Strategy Released 23 June 2016 Young people’s views on causes of/solutions to the childhood obesity crisis Widespread media coverage - Times/Guardian/Sun/ Telegraph/Mail; GMB/BBC Breakfast

The Child’s Obesity Strategy 14 May 2016: initial workshop with 17 young people 1-10 June 2016: online survey of 570 young people aged 13-18

The Child’s Obesity Strategy Better food labelling: Almost 9 in 10 (87%) think labels should include RDAs specifically for young people More than 4 in 5 (82%) think manufacturers mislead people when they provide fat, salt and sugar for single servings (or per 100g) rather than for the entire product More than 4 in 5 (84%) think soft drinks should display sugar content in teaspoons More than 2 in 5 (42%) think foods high in fat/salt/sugar should be plain packaged A third (33%) support film-style age classification labels for food and drink

The Child’s Obesity Strategy Making takeaways more of a treat: More than two thirds (71%) think takeaway food high in fat, salt or sugar should come with a health warning about the risks of obesity More than half have ordered a takeaway using their mobile phone 1 in 4 (25%) have ordered a takeaway to their school A third (66%) have seen junk/fast food advertising on bus tickets More than a third (41%) think food ordering apps should ask the user’s age, and half (50%) think takeaways shouldn’t be delivered to schools

The Child’s Obesity Strategy Supermarkets promoting and rewarding healthier options: More than half (53%) think junk food should be positioned on higher shelves, away from the eye line of children Almost half (47%) think there should be limits on BOGOFS for junk food 4 in 5 (80%) think supermarkets should offer free fruit and vegetables to children to snack on while shopping with their parents Almost 4 in 5 (78%) would use a loyalty card that rewarded healthy choices Almost 2 in 5 (38%) think special offers should only be available on healthy food

The Child’s Obesity Strategy Activities during school and leisure time: 3 in 5 (60%) say it is easy to get unhealthy food from somewhere other than school during the day More than 4 in 5 (85%) would like schools to provide nutrition lessons so they can learn more about healthy eating Almost half say they would be more physically active if their schools had better sports equipment Almost three quarters (73%) would join gyms if they had memberships aimed at young people

Social media, health and wellbeing About the project: Social media is a fact of life, and has both positive and negative effects for health and wellbeing – go beyond ‘social media good’/’social media bad’ What are some platforms doing better than others? How can we accentuate the positive and minimise the negative? Survey of 14-24 year olds, 300 respondents thus far – we want many more! To be followed by focus groups to explore in more detail

Social media, health and wellbeing Platforms (top 3 use): 57%

Social media, health and wellbeing Manner of use (alone or with others): 56%

Social media, health and wellbeing Manner of use (sharing or consuming): 43% 24%

Social media, health and wellbeing Expectations: 53% 51%: FOMO

Social media, health and wellbeing Effects: 52% 75% 7% 22%

Social media, health and wellbeing Effects: 67%

Social media, health and wellbeing Effects: 66%: FOMO 38%

Social media, health and wellbeing Solutions: 57% 64% 46%

Social media, health and wellbeing Solutions: 57% 55% 57%

contact: emorrow@rsph.org.uk / @edmorrow87 Social media, health and wellbeing Help the project! www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/yhmsocial DEADLINE: 15 AUGUST 2016 contact: emorrow@rsph.org.uk / @edmorrow87