Sorry for the downer post.
My 12-yr old niece's friend just took her own life. Very much addicted to social media. TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram. Whether that played a role is up for debate however the Surgeon General even just said that socials play a role in kids depression, anxiety, etc.
As a father of 3 little kids I worry the effects these platforms will have on their mental well being as they get older. We can manage them now, but once peer pressure and adolescence hits, my wife and I are very concerned.
At what point will our culture wake up to realize the negatives outweigh the benefits of socials.
Keep an eye on your kids and what they're doing.
Rant over.
& social media sucks. I hate it. No one posts their worst moments on social media, it's them in Aruba or @ a fiesta. And if you're in a funk & see a follower or friend traveling in Europe...it is human nature to make you even more depressed. I think social media has done some very good things, but it has always a lot of bad things. If it was up to me, I'd prefer a non Facebook/Instagram/Snapchat/etc. world.
& social media sucks. I hate it. No one posts their worst moments on social media, it's them in Aruba or @ a fiesta. And if you're in a funk & see a follower or friend traveling in Europe...it is human nature to make you even more depressed. I think social media has done some very good things, but it has always a lot of bad things. If it was up to me, I'd prefer a non Facebook/Instagram/Snapchat/etc. world.
Yeah I was in a funk after a long-term relationship not working out and all my friends were posting engagement pictures, date pictures, baby pictures, etc. But then the ones I were close to I knew the real stories (some are now divorced). It's not real life. It's a snapshot of a moment that may or may not be faked. And when you think about it, even back in the polaroid/kodak era, people always tried to look happy in photos.
The converse of that is Twitter, where the world is always ending, the other political team is trying to destroy you, society is going to shit, etc. For some reason, the doomerism doesn't bother me and somehow makes me more optimistic. (I've always been a contrarian.)
If social media is making you feel bad, either delete the particular app or take a break, and see how you feel. The app will always be there if you want to go back.
& social media sucks. I hate it. No one posts their worst moments on social media, it's them in Aruba or @ a fiesta. And if you're in a funk & see a follower or friend traveling in Europe...it is human nature to make you even more depressed. I think social media has done some very good things, but it has always a lot of bad things. If it was up to me, I'd prefer a non Facebook/Instagram/Snapchat/etc. world.
Don’t forget to incited twitter. It’s an absolute cesspool, unfortunately it is a good information source for sports.
I only get into a really dark foul mood if I lose like 7 matches in a row in Rocket League and drop 100 rating points.
I only get into a really dark foul mood if I lose like 7 matches in a row in Rocket League and drop 100 rating points.
I doesn’t bother me personally but it’s alarming at the macro level. I don’t know what the solution is but it definitely can’t go on the way it is currently.
I’m 66, and feel out of step and place with society as it now is. Previous social norms of just walking on the street making eye contact , and communicating are being lost due to the cell phone. I’m not sure the positives outweigh the negatives.
I disagree. As the public starts to learn what these platforms are doing to our kids the social media companies will be sued just like the cigarette companies.
The tide is turning. My 20 year old has realized what is happening and has shut it off. Her generation will stop this nonsense.
Twitter is a cesspool of outright lies and bullying.
How do 10 to 12 year olds learn how to commit suicide? How the ef is that possible? Everyone was bullied at school when we were at that age, but at least before social media when you left school it was over. You almost always had your group of friends and kept away from the a$$holes.
Do parents not see that their kids are depressed? It is sad and frightening.
Adults act like assholes on social media too though. School has to be extremely challenging for parents to navigate, it’s something I definitely think about. But there are plenty of adults on Facebook and Twitter who are just as bad if not worse.
Decades ago, kids were being bullied physically in school much more than they are today. Different stresses and challenges at that time. There was suicide back then too.
It all stems from the home.
Decades ago, kids were being bullied physically in school much more than they are today. Different stresses and challenges at that time. There was suicide back then too.
It all stems from the home.
To an extent, sure. But it’s promoted in our culture so it’s a constant battle parents today face. It’s not as simple as “no”. It’s not a piece of candy or staying up late, or seeing an R rated movie - it’s very literally a lifestyle and incredibly complicated to navigate. You can be an exceptional parent and still raise a kid who drives drunk, abuses drugs, or falls off the deep end on social media.
In other words, the key need children have is not to have their time and access to social networks restricted, but to have responsive parents. According to the research this has the strongest correlation.
They suggested when a child has questions/concerns/problems they turn to adults for guidance. When those adults are distracted, the child's learns quickly that they must figure out their own solutions and seek those solutions out on the internet. This is where problems really begin.
So the solution less in good, attentive parenting. Not helicoptering over children, but being available and encouraging when children turn to parents for guidance.
Just thought I'd share.
Now, granted it was a Monday at 12:30, but still, the mall was so depressing. Half the stores were shuttered, and the only people walking around inside were some old people. I thought a lot about how we have killed the social experience of shopping with our online purchases, and one of the costs is fewer opportunities for teens to socialize in a safe space.
It's not enough to eliminate social media, you must replace it with safe spaces for teens to socialize outside of the watchful eyes of their parents.
First off all, my condolences to the loved ones of the deceased and prayers for her and her family. It is tragic when someone is so young is so lost that they feel like the only way out is to take their own life.
It also seems like some of you don't have teens or grew up in a Normal Rockwell home and the real world is some fictitious Hollywood creation.
It's not all *one* thing. It's not all "the parents" it's not all "social media" it's not all "COVID and authoritarian policies" (surprisingly no one really even mentioned this) it's not all whatever one thing people want to blame. But I get it, when a tragedy happens, it's human nature to want to have a *thing* to blame.
Change happens. every generation points to the current change as the problem and reminisces back to their youth when things were great. But the older people of that generation said the same shit about whatever change was happening at the time.
I'm not defending social media, I'm simply stating it's not the only problem and I'd even say there are other things that are much worse impacting the mental health of the younger generations. I say this as a parent of three teens and as someone who has coached this generation in various youth sports for a decade+. Anecdotal? sure, but a lot of data points.
Some of the other things we cannot have as a discussion about on this forum, so I will leave it at that.
Good luck to you parents out there.
Now, granted it was a Monday at 12:30, but still, the mall was so depressing. Half the stores were shuttered, and the only people walking around inside were some old people. I thought a lot about how we have killed the social experience of shopping with our online purchases, and one of the costs is fewer opportunities for teens to socialize in a safe space.
It's not enough to eliminate social media, you must replace it with safe spaces for teens to socialize outside of the watchful eyes of their parents.
Driving by the park I saw kids sitting around a tree on a nice sunny day.
They were all looking down at their smart phones.
The presentation at the conference was not a presentation on a single study, but the observations made by a team of PhD's who have been studying the relationship between social media use in teens and mental health.
Counter to the intuition of many, including the researchers at first, was the conclusion they reached.
And yes, the issue is much more nuanced than you might imagine. Marginalized children have actually positive benefits from increased time on social media. Kind of makes sense, right??
As a parent of a 12 year old (also an 8 year old who is not on social media yet) all I can say is no good ever comes from social media. It is almost impossible to stop and there is nothing redeeming about the content. I have also found Group Chats on the iPhone to be toxic as there are so many fights and disagreements. The only thing I can recommend is to check your kids phone and accounts every day so you know exactly what they are doing!
Our middle son is 13 and has a phone, with supposedly parental controls in place on his browsing. But, I am fairly certain he found a loophole that I haven't figured out yet, or has seen stuff via friends.