​Instagram post was a mistake says organisation

Young Scot has apologised after it encouraged young people to avoid negative news.

Media experts and a trade union criticised the charity for posting advice on Instagram saying “upsetting” news stories could affect mental health and that young people should therefore avoid neagtive news sources.

Young Scot, which offers advice and information to young people, suggested young people should source exclusively positive content and uplifting stories about “people doing amazing things” to “shape what we think of the world around us.”

It said that reading and seeing “negative stuff” leaves people “feeling down and cynical about the world.”

It advised young people that it “might be a good idea to unfollow news channel accounts” on social media because they “mostly just post negative news”.

However the organisation deleted the warnings issued this week on its Instagram account after the organisation was criticised online.

Young Scot admitted that the advice had been “a mistake.”

Annie McGuire, a former broadcaster who is now a journalism lecturer at the University of the West of Scotland, said: “I’m glad Young Scot took the Instagram story down and would really encourage them to run a similar guide to how young people can engage with the news and use their critical thinking to form responses to it, beyond just ‘feeling depressed’.”

John Toner, Scottish national organiser for the National Union of Journalists, said it is vital that young people engage with the democratic process and they cannot do so unless they are fully informed.

“People who are subjected to terrible events — famine, war, earthquake, tsunami — rely on the rest of the world for aid during such times,” he added

“We can only help if we know what is happening.”

A spokeswoman for Young Scot said its Instagram story was about looking after mental wellbeing and apologised for the mistake.

"In trying to set this out, we expressed ourselves clumsily.

“We absolutely do not advocate young people switching off from the news — our whole purpose is to support young people to make informed decisions and choices.

“When our poor choice of words was pointed out we immediately took down the story and will learn from this. It was simply a mistake.”

In a blog, Young Scot chief executive Louise Macdonald said she was "sad and disappointed" to see the story being "sensationalised."

"We absolutely do not advocate young people switching off from the news – our whole purpose as a charity is to support young people to make informed decisions and choices," she said.

"But when social media channels are overwhelming in this fast paced world, we think it’s ok to take a wee bit of downtime for self-care to recharge before you reconnect as an active citizen."