Social media and kids
There’s a lot of talk about how teens are addicted to their phones, but that’s not really true. There’s a truth behind that truth, specifically. And that truth is that in our society, kids and teens are no longer allowed to roam freely and socialize with each other freely as they once were. They’re kept at home out of ridiculous fears over their safety, to the point where some parents have even been arrested for letting their children play in their own front yards under adult supervision! This ridiculous fearful nonsense is producing generations of socialization-starved kids who turn to social media and smart phones for their socializing. They’re not addicted to their phones, they’re “addicted” to socializing with other human beings!
People bemoan their kids not spending time socializing face to face, like is “normal,” but the thing is, face to face socialization is no longer normal in Western society. Our insanely fearful society has most parents keeping their kids inside the house at all times except where absolutely necessary for school and the like. These kids are essentially under house arrest, and so they’re starving from lack of their preferred face to face socialization. Thus, they turn to social media. The problem isn’t technology, the problem is people treating their children like prisoners in the dubious name of their safety.
So to convince her to not use her phone as much, you have to give her the freedom to roam freely as kids once were allowed to do as recently as the 1980’s. But even then that won’t likely be enough, because everyone else would have to do it too. Why? Because some parents won’t even let their kids’ friends over to their house anymore, so until everyone pulls their heads out of their collective behinds and lets kids and teens be free to roam around as they please again, there’s going to continue to be a need to socialize with social media and smart phones.
Also, you know, even those of us who are old enough to roam freely on our own still use social media and smart phones to socialize.
This was cross-posted from https://fayanora.dreamwidth.org/1379533.html
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