Concerns about the mental health and wellbeing of children and young people are becoming increasingly urgent. Recent statistics highlight rising levels of reported distress, with many young people facing challenges linked to anxiety, depression, loneliness, educational pressures and broader societal change (NHS Digital, 2023). In this context, digital technologies are often presented as either a risk to wellbeing or a potential solution. Yet framing the debate in these binary terms risks oversimplifying the complex ways in which young people engage with digital spaces and the supports available to them.
A more constructive framing might be to see digital mental health not as a standalone intervention but as part of a wider ecosystem of support and learning for young people (Hanley and Winter, forthcoming). This perspective recognises that wellbeing is rarely shaped by one factor or one relationship alone. Instead, young people’s mental health is influenced by an interconnected Web of resources: families, peers, schools, communities, health services, voluntary organisations and increasingly, digital and AI-driven tools.
Ecosystems of support and learning
The idea of an ecosystem of support and learning suggests that no single approach is likely to be sufficient to address the diversity of needs among young people. Some will benefit from formal therapeutic interventions, others from brief or single-session support and many from informal conversations with trusted adults or peers. Digital technologies can enhance each of these forms of support, but they should not be seen as replacing them.
In work examining the online counselling and support service Kooth.com, it was highlighted that young people often follow different pathways of care, depending on their needs, preferences and circumstances (Hanley et al., 2019). For some, a brief interaction with a digital service may be enough to provide reassurance or direction; for others, brief online support may act as a stepping stone to more intensive therapy (in-person or online), while still others engage with multiple forms of help concurrently. The variety of ways that people engage with support systems helps to illustrate how digital provision should not be viewed as a separate from, or in competition with, more traditional modes of care, but rather as one part of a flexible and interconnected system.
Importantly, these pathways of care can encompass a wide spectrum of possibilities: they include in-person therapy, online human-delivered support, automated interventions such as chatbots or guided self-help and hybrid or blended approaches. They also include community or group-based equivalents within in-person or digital realms. Thinking in terms of ecosystems means recognising the value of this plurality and designing systems that enable smooth movement between different types of support as young people’s needs change over time.
Opportunities and risks of technological innovation
The pace of technological innovation offers significant opportunities for reshaping how young people access and experience support. Digital platforms can dramatically extend reach, providing immediate, anonymous and stigma-reducing access to help at the click of a button. Asynchronous and text-based tools (such as online forums or chat services) allow some young people to engage in ways that feel safer and more manageable than traditional therapy rooms. AI-driven tools are beginning to personalise support, offering tailored exercises, psychoeducation or even conversational engagement that adapts to users’ language and mood. Meanwhile, digital games and gamified interventions provide immersive, engaging ways to explore emotions, practise coping strategies and build resilience, often meeting young people in the spaces they already inhabit online.
At the same time, these innovations bring clear risks and challenges. Issues of equity and access persist, as not all young people have reliable internet connections, devices or private spaces to engage with digital support. Data privacy and security are critical concerns, particularly when working with minors and sensitive health information. The increasing use of AI chatbots and large language models raises questions about accuracy, safety and accountability when mistakes inevitably occur. There are also risks of over-medicalisation of normal distress, or of young people being funnelled into automated pathways without adequate relational or human oversight.
Perhaps most importantly, there is a danger of diminishing the quality of the relationships that are at the heart of psychological support. While digital tools can facilitate conversations, they cannot truly replicate the nuanced empathy, attunement and ethical responsibility that emerge in human-to-human connection. The risk is not that technology exists, but that it is implemented without proper integration into wider ecosystems of care, leaving young people reliant on tools that are ill-suited to their needs.
From a therapy-informed perspective, the challenge might therefore be to harness these opportunities while holding onto core values of care, relationship and humility. Digital technologies should be designed and deployed to enhance relational support, broaden access and strengthen ecosystems, rather than replace the very connections that young people most need.
This special edition
This is the first special edition of Mental Health and Digital Technologies. It brings together a collection of papers that exemplify the diverse ways in which people are making use of technology to support children and young people. As a group, they highlight the complexity of the digital landscape by making reference to a wide variety of technologies, including social media, mobile apps, artificial intelligence and online therapy tools. In doing so, they demonstrate that ecosystems of support and learning already exist, often in ways that are both formal and informal, structured and emergent. They also highlight the need to move beyond siloed or technology-centric approaches and instead recognise how digital tools can be woven into broader, relational systems of care.
Chen et al., in their paper Digital mental health for young people: sustainably managing stress and anxiety, present a systematic review of interventions for stress management among young people. Their analysis of 48 studies highlights that the effectiveness and acceptance of digital tools, such as mobile apps and chatbots, are shaped by accessibility, user-friendliness, personalisation, social support and cultural considerations. The authors advocate for flexible, personalised and community-oriented digital approaches, while also stressing the need for scalable, longitudinal studies to address issues such as privacy, cultural fit and algorithmic accountability.
Ndindeng, in The impact of social media on mental health, explores how social media functions as both a supportive mental health resource and a potential risk factor. Drawing on the technology acceptance model, self-determination theory and social influence theory, the paper examines the complex and sometimes contradictory influence of social media use. It underscores the dual role of social media in offering connection and support while also posing risks, pointing to the importance of nuanced integration of these platforms into wider mental health strategies.
Ni et al., in Exploring ChatGPT’s Capabilities, Stability, Potential and Risks in Conducting Psychological Counseling through Simulations in School Counseling, conducted an exploratory study of ChatGPT-4’s responsiveness in school counselling simulations. Using 80 authentic student questions, each posed three times to assess consistency, they applied NLP tools to quantify warmth, empathy and sentiment. The study concludes that ChatGPT-4 shows promise as a low-intensity support tool, such as drafting psychoeducational messages or after-hours coping tips, but underscores the imperative for human oversight, further validation and safety trials.
Rahman et al., in Quiet Struggles in a Connected World: Social Media, Mental Health, and Coping Strategies among Young Women in Northern Bangladesh, use qualitative methods to amplify the experiences of young women negotiating mental health and social media use in their specific cultural context. The study surfaces “quiet struggles”, internalised stress, social comparison and limited access to expressive outlet, alongside coping strategies deeply rooted in local culture, such as familial rituals, peer storytelling and community prayer networks. The findings highlight the importance of culturally grounded support mechanisms and suggest that digital mental health interventions must account for local relational and identity contexts to be meaningful and accessible.
Ngabo-Woods and Asensio-Cuesta, in Enhancing Digital Mental Health Platforms: A Usability Exploration with Ergonomics Design Students, investigated how usability features of a prototype digital mental health platform affect engagement, perceived therapeutic efficacy and help-seeking behaviour. Fifty-five undergraduate ergonomics and product design students completed scenario-based tasks on the platform while researchers recorded task duration, conducted usability questionnaires and collected think-aloud reflections. Key findings revealed that intuitive navigation, multilingual menus and hybrid care options (combining self-help and therapist contact) led to shorter task times and increased satisfaction. The study offers actionable, theory-driven design guidelines for creating culturally adaptive and user-friendly digital mental health interventions.
In Unveiling the Potential of Podcasts: Examining Their Role in Supporting the Mental Health of Young People, Sangwan and Yadav carefully map how podcasts, despite their one-directional format, may act as quietly powerful digital supports in young people’s mental health journeys. They draw attention to the ways podcasts can normalise emotional experience, relay psychoeducational content and foster a sense of connection through storytelling, while also being mindful of their limitations. Importantly, the paper does not assume universal benefit. Instead, it highlights how listener characteristics, context and integration with existing care ecosystems shape impact. The authors conclude that while podcasts hold promise as a supplementary medium for low-threshold support, the field urgently needs rigorous longitudinal studies, nuanced qualitative inquiry and frameworks that embed audio content within relational systems of mental health care.
Conclusion
The current moment presents both a challenge and an opportunity. As reports of young people’s mental health distress continue to rise, there is a temptation to seek quick technological fixes. But meaningful, sustainable support requires more than new apps or platforms: it requires building ecosystems that work together in which digital resources enhance, rather than replace, the relational and contextual supports that have always been central to wellbeing.
In this vision, digital mental health is not an endpoint but a connector – linking young people to people, communities and ideas that can help them thrive. The contributions in this edition provide important steps in that direction.
Taken together, these contributions illustrate both the opportunities and challenges of digital mental health for young people. They highlight that the future will not be found in single, isolated solutions, but in the careful design of ecosystems in which digital resources, human relationships and community contexts are woven together. The current moment presents both a challenge and an opportunity: as reports of distress rise, there is a temptation to seek quick technological fixes. But meaningful, sustainable support requires more than new apps or platforms, it requires systems that recognise young people’s diverse pathways to accessing support, respect cultural contexts and place relational connection at their heart.
In this vision, digital mental health is not an endpoint but a connector – linking young people to people, communities and ideas that can help them thrive. The contributions in this edition provide important steps in that direction.
