An AMAZING post! Chock-full of wisdom, warnings, practical advice, positive solutions, and ScreenStrong resources! I especially loved the note to grandparents, and I personally believe KBS should be adapted to the audience of grandparents, we people who have the least amount of knowledge of technology. Well done, Melanie!
Great post. Boys and even girls are being affected by gaming and porn. It kills their identity, their self confidence, their self image and their future. Sad stuff. Wake up parents! It’s okay to get stricter with screen access at home. It’s time!
Where are grownups’ priorities? We have massive crises documented by the CDC, Administration on Children and Families, etc., of tens of millions of children and teenagers psychologically, violently, and sexually abused by parents and adult caretakers, driving depression, suicide attempts, self-harm, and seriously risky behaviors. All to utter silence on dozens of these sites.
Teens do encounter depraved porn and some are sextorted online, problems usually manageable by hitting the <delete>, <block sender>, and related tabs. However, children and teens cannot deal with real-life violent, sexual, and emotionally abusive adults in their homes – and churches, youth organizations, schools, sports, law enforcement, etc. – which teens report to CDC surveys and ACF investigators substantiate in alarming numbers.
Here’s a bombshell directly from the CDC’s 2023 survey of 20,000 teens I’d love to see seriously confronted: of the 12% of teens who report being cyberbullied (loudly deplored), 84% of those SAME teens ALSO report being psychologically and violently abused by parents and adults in their homes (silence). Cyberbullying is just fallout from much more common, damaging abuse by adults at home.
Today’s teenage “mental health crisis” isn’t solvable by lawmakers and parents “talking” or “setting limits” for teens. In fact, teens would be better off if adults were prohibited from interfering with online use, given CDC findings that abused and depressed younger girls who frequently use social media are less likely to attempt suicide or harm themselves. Rather, we need loud campaigns to confront the widespread abuses, mental health problems, drug/alcohol abuse, and criminal behaviors grownups are imposing on kids.
(You’ve heard the constant lament: “Guns are the leading cause of death among America’s children and teenagers”. What do FBI murderer-victim tabulations show is the biggest thing adults can do to change this tragic reality? Stop shooting kids.)
Do we grownups today care about kids enough to engage harsh introspections? So far, we’d rather blame teens themselves, their peers, their “culture,” their “social media” – easy, feel-good ways out.
An AMAZING post! Chock-full of wisdom, warnings, practical advice, positive solutions, and ScreenStrong resources! I especially loved the note to grandparents, and I personally believe KBS should be adapted to the audience of grandparents, we people who have the least amount of knowledge of technology. Well done, Melanie!
Great post. Boys and even girls are being affected by gaming and porn. It kills their identity, their self confidence, their self image and their future. Sad stuff. Wake up parents! It’s okay to get stricter with screen access at home. It’s time!
I'm dreading the availability of it and how it will affect my children. Jonathan Haidt's recent post https://open.substack.com/pub/jonathanhaidt/p/the-mass-trauma-of-porn?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=5rkwb1
paints it painfully clear what the outcome is for unmoderated access.
This puts it on the parents. Your libertarian progressive insanity prevented you from making this case 20 years ago. We’ve terrorized our children.
Where are grownups’ priorities? We have massive crises documented by the CDC, Administration on Children and Families, etc., of tens of millions of children and teenagers psychologically, violently, and sexually abused by parents and adult caretakers, driving depression, suicide attempts, self-harm, and seriously risky behaviors. All to utter silence on dozens of these sites.
Teens do encounter depraved porn and some are sextorted online, problems usually manageable by hitting the <delete>, <block sender>, and related tabs. However, children and teens cannot deal with real-life violent, sexual, and emotionally abusive adults in their homes – and churches, youth organizations, schools, sports, law enforcement, etc. – which teens report to CDC surveys and ACF investigators substantiate in alarming numbers.
Here’s a bombshell directly from the CDC’s 2023 survey of 20,000 teens I’d love to see seriously confronted: of the 12% of teens who report being cyberbullied (loudly deplored), 84% of those SAME teens ALSO report being psychologically and violently abused by parents and adults in their homes (silence). Cyberbullying is just fallout from much more common, damaging abuse by adults at home.
Today’s teenage “mental health crisis” isn’t solvable by lawmakers and parents “talking” or “setting limits” for teens. In fact, teens would be better off if adults were prohibited from interfering with online use, given CDC findings that abused and depressed younger girls who frequently use social media are less likely to attempt suicide or harm themselves. Rather, we need loud campaigns to confront the widespread abuses, mental health problems, drug/alcohol abuse, and criminal behaviors grownups are imposing on kids.
(You’ve heard the constant lament: “Guns are the leading cause of death among America’s children and teenagers”. What do FBI murderer-victim tabulations show is the biggest thing adults can do to change this tragic reality? Stop shooting kids.)
Do we grownups today care about kids enough to engage harsh introspections? So far, we’d rather blame teens themselves, their peers, their “culture,” their “social media” – easy, feel-good ways out.
Omg you finally mentioned it. Check out what we’re up against.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/trudeau-poilievre-porn-age-verification-1.7122645