Mobile Myanmar: The Impact of Social Media on Young People Living in Conflict-Affected Regions of Myanmar the use of government media communication laws, and education programmes – all of which Myanmar is currently lacking. Despite their longitudinal exposure to developing digital technology, federal and state media laws, and resourcing for digital education programs, each of the four countries in this study has since reported increases in concerns around cybersafety, cyberbullying and hate speech concerns between 2016 and 2018, even with proactive approaches (Cook, 2019). This raises the question – at what rate would online hate speech and online harassment increase in Myanmar in the coming years without any regulatory practice or nation-wide digital education programmes? Online psychological and emotional support While the need for regulation and education around online safety and digital citizenship in Myanmar is obvious, the current study also points to a need for psychological and emotional support to deal with the hate speech, harassment and other negative interactions on social media that young people encounter. Although many of the impacts of social media on mental health discussed by participants were negative, the current study also revealed that Myanmar youth are actually using social media to cope with mental health issues, for example by using it as an outlet to articulate their feelings, deal with stress, or to distract themselves from difficult emotions. Young people across the world are increasingly seeking support and information regarding their mental health online (Rickwood, Mazzer & Telford, 2015). However, there is currently very little credible online information helpful to young people in Myanmar. The fact that seeking and sharing health information on social media was so popular among the Myanmar young people sampled in the current study suggests that there would likely be a significant appetite for online mental health resources, were they available in their languages and tailored to their context. In addition to the provision of mental health resources online, there is a well-established body of evidence supporting the efficacy of online tools such as apps, websites, online games and social media to effectively treat mental health issues such as depression and anxiety (Ridout & Campbell, 2018; Spijkerman, Pots & Bohlmeijer, 2016; Clarke, Kuosmanen & Barry, 2015; Ali, Farrer, Gulliver & Griffiths, 2015; Christensen, 2014; Campbell & Robards, 2013; Ridout & Campbell, 2014). The delivery of varying online mental health interventions, from psychoeducation (online mental health education), to self-help apps, chat groups, and social media support groups, are all avenues well established in Australia, the UK, the USA and Canada. Given the barriers to mental health support young people in Myanmar currently face, and the fact that they are already turning to social media to engage in knowledge-seeking around health issues, there is a promising opportunity to use social media and the online space to develop and connect Myanmar youth with mental health information and online support services. Given young people in Myanmar view social media, and Facebook in particular, as a search engine or knowledge platform (McKay, 2017a), social media could play a significant role in connecting young people in Myanmar with online mental health resources they desperately need.. Two authors of this report (Ridout and Campbell) have recently developed an online mental health platform tool for Kids Helpline (2019), which provides counsellor-lead mental health support and psychoeducation for young Australians (aged 13–25) in a safe, closed and anonymous online social network (Campbell, Ridout, Amon, Collyer, & Dalgleish, 2018). At present, Australia is the only country offering this initiative to its population. The potential for social media to deliver mental health psychoeducation, self-help and group support in Myanmar is both a cost effective and relatively timely way to roll out a basic mental health service. It presents a grassroots opportunity in lieu of no current national service. However, for a similar approach to be established for Myanmar young people, it would require a lead service body and regulatory body to ensure quality of evidence-based practice delivery via e-mental health tools. With neither currently in place, the recommendations in this report focus on suggested first steps to provide online triage support for Myanmar young people requiring emotional support. 102