Domestic abuse charity warns online influences are shaping harmful behaviour among Suffolk’s young people
The charity says education is vital to help young people recognise and challenge unhealthy messages they encounter online.
A Suffolk-based domestic abuse awareness organisation has warned that online culture and social media are playing an increasing role in shaping unhealthy behaviours among young people, as it works to address what it says is a growing problem in teenage relationships.
Red Flag Awareness, a community interest company founded by domestic abuse specialists David Wattley and Natalie McCarthy, focuses on educating young people about healthy relationships, misogyny and respectful behaviour.
The charity’s work comes amid growing national concern about how online content can influence attitudes towards relationships, gender roles and control, particularly among teenagers navigating intimate relationships at a younger age.
"Teenage relationships, is the fastest growing demographic when it comes to domestic abuse,”
David Wattley said Red Flag Awareness was created after years of working within the domestic abuse sector, where they identified a worrying trend among young people.
“From the work that we’ve already done over the many tens of years within the domestic abuse sector, we saw that young people, teenage relationships, is the fastest growing demographic when it comes to domestic abuse,” he said.
He said adolescence is a crucial stage at which behaviours and attitudes become ingrained.
“It’s a really crucial age for young people to learn about relationships and obviously that message isn’t quite getting home as well as we might think it is,” he said.
While Red Flag Awareness does not single out specific platforms, the organisation says young people are increasingly exposed to harmful narratives online, including misogynistic language and disrespectful behaviour, which can normalise controlling or abusive conduct if left unchallenged.
"Empower people to be respectful and demonstrate positive, healthy relationships"
Mr Wattley said education and early intervention are key to counteracting those influences.
“We’d like children to have access to the right information across the country,” he said.
“For every young person to be able to have the tools that are available to them to help build that confidence, to challenge things that they’re not happy with when they feel uncomfortable, and to be able to recognise the signs of disrespectful behaviour, misogynistic language, and really empower people to be respectful and demonstrate positive, healthy relationships.”
"Those people are going to become very dangerous adults"
Co-founder Natalie McCarthy said her experience working in domestic abuse for nearly two decades shows why early education is vital.
“Relationships of a more intimate nature are starting earlier than, say, when I was a child or young person,” she said.
She warned that failing to address harmful behaviours early, including those shaped by online culture, can have serious consequences later in life.
“Early intervention and getting in there early is really important,” she said.
“If we’re leaving them to just carry on, some of those people are going to become very dangerous adults, and it’s just catastrophic, really.”
Red Flag Awareness is currently focusing its work in Suffolk, but says its ambition is for young people nationwide to have access to consistent education around healthy relationships and respect.
Ms McCarthy said the aim is long-term change.
“Getting in there early and educating those young people gives us a better chance of creating positive change in their lives, as well as the future of everyone” she said.