A new toxic media craze has been sweeping among schoolchildren across social media.
"Sadfishing" is where youngsters share details online about personal issues in search of support.
It's being used to attract attention in order to drum up more likes and shares, reports BirminghamLive.
The term was coined after a number of celebrities were accused of teasing details about personal issues on their social media site to drum up publicity and attract more likes and shares.
But a new study, by Digital Awareness UK (DAUK), says youngsters facing genuine distress who are turning to the internet to find support are being accused of jumping on this bandwagon, and may be bullied as a result.
It argues that in these cases, students can be left feeling disappointed at not getting the support they desire, and it could make their emotional or mental health problems worse.
One Year 7 student told researchers he used Instagram to share his feelings when he was feeling down due to problems at home.
"I got a lot of people commenting on and 'liking' my post but then some people said I was sadfishing the next day at school for attention," the student said. "Sharing my feelings online has made me feel worse in some ways but supported in others."
There are also concerns that youngsters could be left vulnerable to online groomers, who prey on them by providing sympathy in order to gain their trust.
"Groomers can also use comments that express a need for emotional support as a platform to connect with young people and gain their trust, only to try and exploit it at a later point," it says.
It goes on to give a case study of a teenage girl who had started a relationship with someone she met on social media through a mutual friend, after sharing her experiences of depression online.
He had responded to her post and shared his own experiences.
The young girl ended the relationship when she discovered he was much older than he claimed and he was pressurising her into sharing explicit images of herself.
The study, commissioned by the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference (HMC) is based on face-to-face interviews with more than 50,000 children aged 11 to 16.
