Youth Mental Health Service Reach Out says a saturation of bad news through social media is increasingly troubling young people.
The organisation has partnered with Twitter to develop an online resource 'Dealing With Bad World News' to try to help young people deal with distressing content.
The most recent stress and wellbeing survey was in 2015. It found: teenagers spent on average 2.7 hours a day on social media; more than half logged on five or more times a day; and 25 per cent were constantly connected.
Susan McLean, who runs the consultancy Cyber Safety Solution, says while television and print media may have some safeguards, the same editorial considerations are not necessarily in place on social media.
"Mainstream media, television, radio and print are subject to rules and boundaries," she said.
"Often if there's something slightly graphic they'll err on the side of caution and provide a warning. But of course when we're talking about social media platforms and news feeds, it often pops up without warning."
Sydney teenager Jaslyn Brown uses social media to search for art that inspires her, and to share her own.
But the 13-year-old says she’s sometimes confronted by graphic news images, as well as hostile debates around political issues.
“I've seen people just being really horrible to each other; I find that confronting as well as you know, those big scale news stories.”
Ms McLean has urged parents to take an active role in helping young people contextualise what they see online.
"Being involved in what your children are doing online, and certainly taking cues from the mainstream media, when things of note are being reported. Terrorist acts or natural disasters, or the death of a high profile person, take that as an opportunity to check in with your children."
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