The All-Party Parliamentary Group for Media joins forces with Digital Detox Day, launched as part of IAMWHOLE, a mental health campaign aimed at encouraging young people to speak out, seek help and get support.

The objective of Digital Detox Day is to encourage healthy usage of social media and promote mental health by asking people to 'switch off' their accounts for the day. The campaign is keen to involve key figures from the Media Group, joining a range of celebrities and influencers, such as Ed Sheeran, James Corden, Liam Gallagher and Dermot O'Leary.

The Royal Society Of Public Health found social media is more addictive than smoking and alcohol and that using social media for more than two hours per day is associated with poor self-rating of mental health, increased levels of psychological distress and suicidal ideation, with young people claiming that four out of five of the most popular platforms increase their anxiety.

Andy Carter, Chair of the Media APPG, said: “We are proud to support Digital Detox Day, a very important initiative to support people and encourage healthy attitudes towards social media. The Media APPG stands with the IAMWHOLE campaign and will be proudly taking a break from social media on 5th September.”

To take part, on the 4th of September, please share a post on your social media using the campaign symbol and tag it with #DigitalDetoxDay and @IAMWHOLEUK. This symbolises an ‘out of office’ so people can let their followers know that they will not be online on DDD, 5th September.

For more information about IAMWHOLE and Digital Detox Day, click here.