Update – 14th May 2021

As we close the week on Mental Health Awareness Week I thought it was appropriate to provide you with a brief update as to how the petition is gathering pace and moving from strength to strength. In just over 3 weeks we have increased to over 550 signatures in support of labelling edited/filtered content on social media. This is amazing progress and shows the concerns of people from all walks of life as to the effect on our young people’s mental health and self-esteem.

Since starting the petition, I have been contacted by many teachers who have told me their experiences of conversations with their students who feel under pressure from social media perfection or crippling loneliness when they feel that their face doesn’t fit. I have also been contacted by countless parents who are terrified of how body conscious their children are, with ages starting from as young as 9 and throughout their teens. I have spoken with many adults who have suffered their own mental health challenges in their adolescent years, signing the petition because they just can’t fathom how they would have survived against the odds that the youth of today are growing up with. The more people I speak to about the petition, the more it makes me wants to ensure there is change, protection and honesty to give our young people a fair chance in today’s world. I also just want to reiterate that these mental health challenges do not discriminate against females or males and this petition is very much needed to protect all young people.

I wanted to provide you an update of the actions that have taken place or are due to take place shortly to continue to amplify the needs of the petition:

·       Blog post published to explain why this petition started and to amplify the reach of people who know it exists via social media and website.

·       Meeting booked with Senior Parliamentary Assistant & Researcher for Dr Luke Evans MP to discuss the Digitally Altered Body Images bill.

·       Meetings held with contacts in various sectors to amplify the petition and reach a wider network of potential signers.

I ask you to continue to share this petition with your own networks and contacts to ensure we can continue to discuss this with Government to evoke change.

Many thanks

Suzanne Samaka

Instagram - @protectyouthmentalhealth

#HonestyAboutEditing