The results of a youth wellbeing survey carried out across Hampshire and the Isle of Wight have shown that local youngsters feel lonely and have lower self-esteem than elsewhere in the region. Year 8 and 10 students in over 100 schools have taken part in the programme, which aims to drive action across society to improve young people’s wellbeing. The survey results show that overall wellbeing, key life satisfaction and mental wellbeing scores are consistent with other large studies that have used one or more of the measures included in the #BeeWell survey. Young Islanders are not discernibly different to the average, however, youngsters on the Isle of Wight have shown a lower score for self-esteem compared to the average across Hampshire, Portsmouth and Southampton – partially for Newport & West Wight and Sandown & Shanklin. Overall, a slightly higher proportion of young people on the Island report feeling lonely ‘often’ or ‘always’, with 11.5% of respondents saying they attribute high rates of loneliness to being isolated on an island. Local youngsters say they attribute general loneliness on the Island to:
- Social media
- Not having enough local free activities on the weekends
- People not wanting to do things after school because they can’t be bothered to travel somewhere else after school, school is draining or, once home, young people start scrolling on social media which fuels comparisons, discontentment with their own lives and loneliness.
When asked about feeling safe, 86% say that they feel fairly safe or very safe in their local area – a higher rate than elsewhere in the region with an average of 84.2%. However, there are varying degrees amongst local communities with 84.5% of respondents feeling fairly or very safe, which rises to 88% in Ryde. When it comes to talking about mental health, across the region 29.5% of respondents agreed that they feel comfortable talking to adults about their mental health. For the Island, this is lower in the Cowes area at 24% and highest in the Ryde area at 33%. Overall, the Isle of Wight scores poorly across a number of metrics compared to the mainland, particularly for bullying and life satisfaction. The full results can be viewed at https://uomseed.com/hips-neighbourhoods/2023/measures/.
Get them off social media and go out and play or go for walks after school or weekends don’t have to pay for everything
So much negativity on here…
You’d be forgiven for thinking we were bursting at the seams with children. The reality is an unsustainable birth rate, schools closing because they don’t have enough children et al. As for this, well the island has always been insular. I remember back in the 70’s, chatting to this old boy, now long gone. He told me in quite a matter of fact way, that he had visited Portsmouth once. He didn’t like it, this was in 1946. People didn’t feel the need to go anywhere else. Although back then the lazy option of surfing the internet didn’t exist. Different times, I guess.
As an adult, and I don’t say this to gain pity, but I find it objectively interesting – the Isle of Wight is one of the only places I have lived in that I feel lonely. It has a particular quality I find – I often feel “invisible”, it’s like a confidence thing amongst the locals, they don’t really seem to understand how to live life in a sociable way, and don’t really understand how life is meant to be, or how it could be. A friend of mine from the mainland summed it up – it’s a “low vibe” place and the people seem to lack any sort of ambition, be it careerwise or even making friends or connections.