I laughed thinking about the telephone and how our addresses (and the “teen phone”) were published in the phone book. Great reminder.
I think it boils down to teaching teens critical thinking and “digital literacy” skills—discernment. As a 14-year old, I knew better than my friends, that the old dude that helped with our Church youth group shouldn’t be putting his arms around us (well, not me because I suppose he picked up on my vibe!) Some teens, just like some adults, are capable of sifting through the bullshit or negative influences in person or online—some are not.
We were influenced negatively by skinny models in magazines just like teens today are influenced by those same skinny models on Instagram.
I do think the internet combined with adolescent neurobiology does magnify some negatives, however. For instance, sextortion and “revenge porn” (mainly aimed at young males) couldn’t really happen without internet/social media. There are entire gangs of people out there targeting kids there. But again, helping teens learn how to navigate their digital life safely is a better solution than any attempt at banning, which logistically and likely even legally, just can’t work.
The problem with what you're saying is that there is so much mis-information on social meda. Look at X, where wannabe Fascist Elon Musk and those who follow him, are spreading all sorts of conspiracy theories and terrible nonsense.
An example is how Musk just described USAID, as “a viper’s nest of radical-left marxists who hate America,” “evil” and “a criminal organization.” Or then you have Andrew Tate selling his brand of toxic masculinity to impressible young males.
I don't see how keeping things as is on social media is going to stop this from happening.
I agree 100% and would go farther. All information available publicly is suspect, with the mainstream media as bad or worse than social media. The outrageous lies the NYT, Wash Post, BBC, etc. published on Gaza destroyed any credibility they have -- and social media, for its flaws, provided a wide variety of commentaries and faceoffs that presented far more accuracy. Andrew Tate is despicable, but so are many men teens encounter in churches, sports, school, and their own families. If anything, middle-agers are proving far more impressionable and susceptible to lies and conspiracy theories than teens are. If anyone knows what to do about the avalanche of public misinformation available on all sources -- other than to allow us to choose from a variety of sources -- I'm all ears. I certainly don't want the likes of Musk, Bezos, Zuckerberg, et al deciding what is "true" to present for all of us.
I laughed thinking about the telephone and how our addresses (and the “teen phone”) were published in the phone book. Great reminder.
I think it boils down to teaching teens critical thinking and “digital literacy” skills—discernment. As a 14-year old, I knew better than my friends, that the old dude that helped with our Church youth group shouldn’t be putting his arms around us (well, not me because I suppose he picked up on my vibe!) Some teens, just like some adults, are capable of sifting through the bullshit or negative influences in person or online—some are not.
We were influenced negatively by skinny models in magazines just like teens today are influenced by those same skinny models on Instagram.
I do think the internet combined with adolescent neurobiology does magnify some negatives, however. For instance, sextortion and “revenge porn” (mainly aimed at young males) couldn’t really happen without internet/social media. There are entire gangs of people out there targeting kids there. But again, helping teens learn how to navigate their digital life safely is a better solution than any attempt at banning, which logistically and likely even legally, just can’t work.
And we haven't gotten into television and yet, the ultimate non-interactive, passivity-inducing medium past generations grew up with...
Well said
The problem with what you're saying is that there is so much mis-information on social meda. Look at X, where wannabe Fascist Elon Musk and those who follow him, are spreading all sorts of conspiracy theories and terrible nonsense.
An example is how Musk just described USAID, as “a viper’s nest of radical-left marxists who hate America,” “evil” and “a criminal organization.” Or then you have Andrew Tate selling his brand of toxic masculinity to impressible young males.
I don't see how keeping things as is on social media is going to stop this from happening.
I agree 100% and would go farther. All information available publicly is suspect, with the mainstream media as bad or worse than social media. The outrageous lies the NYT, Wash Post, BBC, etc. published on Gaza destroyed any credibility they have -- and social media, for its flaws, provided a wide variety of commentaries and faceoffs that presented far more accuracy. Andrew Tate is despicable, but so are many men teens encounter in churches, sports, school, and their own families. If anything, middle-agers are proving far more impressionable and susceptible to lies and conspiracy theories than teens are. If anyone knows what to do about the avalanche of public misinformation available on all sources -- other than to allow us to choose from a variety of sources -- I'm all ears. I certainly don't want the likes of Musk, Bezos, Zuckerberg, et al deciding what is "true" to present for all of us.
Well said. Shout it from the rooftops!