What ages are your kids?
The US Surgeon General has decided that social media needs warning labels similar to the parental warnings about explicit music in the 90’s… This is a moral panic which has no basis in science.
nostr:npub1f4faufazfl4cf43c893wx5ppnlqfu4evy2shc4p9gknfe56mqelsc5f7ql has two great articles, one digging in to why warning labels on social media is a terrible idea.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-surgeon-general-is-wrong-social-media-doesnt-need-warning-labels
And then another on why Jonathan Haidt’s new book “The Anxious Generation” blames youth mental health issues on social media in a way that’s easy, wrong, and dangerous.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-coddling-of-the-american-parent
Discussion
Now? 17 and 14… The most recent thing was a discussion about how 4chan is a pretty problematic forum and it’s not healthy to spend too much time there. We’ve had lots of discussions about the way the internet works and how to understand it. But my kid’s mom works at / on Tor, so it’s not like we were going to tightly control / monitor their internet usage. More it’s about conversations and while parenting is hard, being a teenager is hard, the internet and social media hasn’t been the hard part. More it’s been a place where they’ve found connection, meaning, and support.
We’ve moved a lot and discord and games has been a major way in which they’ve been able to keep long term friendships that they would have lost without things like discord.
Yeah, thanks, that all makes sense. I myself use social media to try to connect with people who share my interests. It doesn't really work, but what can you do! My kids are 1 and 2 now, we haven't made it to social media phase yet.