I absolutely believe social media has harmed kids and there have not been sufficient measures to ensure children are protected online. There is not enough focus on the shift schools have made toward digital curriculum—schools have shifted to 1:1 technology without safeguards on the electronics they issue. It has been a nightmare trying to protect my child from what is accessible on her school-issued computer. I take major issue with claiming parents are overprotective. That is an oversimplification of what it is to parent at this time. Particularly when parenting children who have free-reign access to the internet from school issued devices—and then schools have the audacity to claim phones are an issue. My children have lockdown and active shooter drills and have a device that they use during the school day and take home. And yet parents are causing anxiety?! There are a lot more layers to this. There is a mental health crisis amongst adults—teachers and parents and everyone else—who do not have the time to manage it because we are all walking an economic tightrope and doing what we can to survive. You need to also consider the current political climate and the affects on marginalized populations on multiple fronts. Not to mention we experienced a pandemic and NO ONE TALKED TO KIDS about it. Schools went back like nothing happened. Unprocessed trauma and grief weighs on our kids—and many adults. There are so many layers to this and while we might want to point a finger at a group of people (i.e. parents), that is a dangerous and unfair approach. It also suggests that if parents just parented better all of this would go away. No. If we don’t consider it more holistically, then we won’t be able to find meaningful ways of improving things. Parents letting kids play more will not “fix” kids. There are so many factors affecting mental health. What of the schools that take recess away from kids as punishment? Or the active shooter drills that start in Kindergarten? Or the fact that there was a ghost gun found in a kid’s backpack on EHS’s campus? Or broader— the lack of economic security and job instability that has eliminated a stable middle class leaving families struggling? Or the current government restrictions on LGBTQIA, immigrant, and other marginalized communities? There are so many things going on and kids do not have much say or control in it. To not consider how that impacts their mental health is simplistic.
Thanks for sharing your perspective, Shana! Of course you are correct that there are many layers to this. I'd love for you to read the book and have a follow-up discussion about it. Haidt's argument is not that it is parents' fault; at least, I didn't understand his argument that way. He is saying instead that there is a culture of what he calls "safetyism" in our culture around kids that is well-meaning and easy to understand, but that also has some significant unintended consequences from a child development and mental health perspective. He discusses covid and its impact in the book too. Far from dismissing it, he sees it as an accelerant of trends that were underway. And presents evidence of this.
I absolutely believe social media has harmed kids and there have not been sufficient measures to ensure children are protected online. There is not enough focus on the shift schools have made toward digital curriculum—schools have shifted to 1:1 technology without safeguards on the electronics they issue. It has been a nightmare trying to protect my child from what is accessible on her school-issued computer. I take major issue with claiming parents are overprotective. That is an oversimplification of what it is to parent at this time. Particularly when parenting children who have free-reign access to the internet from school issued devices—and then schools have the audacity to claim phones are an issue. My children have lockdown and active shooter drills and have a device that they use during the school day and take home. And yet parents are causing anxiety?! There are a lot more layers to this. There is a mental health crisis amongst adults—teachers and parents and everyone else—who do not have the time to manage it because we are all walking an economic tightrope and doing what we can to survive. You need to also consider the current political climate and the affects on marginalized populations on multiple fronts. Not to mention we experienced a pandemic and NO ONE TALKED TO KIDS about it. Schools went back like nothing happened. Unprocessed trauma and grief weighs on our kids—and many adults. There are so many layers to this and while we might want to point a finger at a group of people (i.e. parents), that is a dangerous and unfair approach. It also suggests that if parents just parented better all of this would go away. No. If we don’t consider it more holistically, then we won’t be able to find meaningful ways of improving things. Parents letting kids play more will not “fix” kids. There are so many factors affecting mental health. What of the schools that take recess away from kids as punishment? Or the active shooter drills that start in Kindergarten? Or the fact that there was a ghost gun found in a kid’s backpack on EHS’s campus? Or broader— the lack of economic security and job instability that has eliminated a stable middle class leaving families struggling? Or the current government restrictions on LGBTQIA, immigrant, and other marginalized communities? There are so many things going on and kids do not have much say or control in it. To not consider how that impacts their mental health is simplistic.
Thanks for sharing your perspective, Shana! Of course you are correct that there are many layers to this. I'd love for you to read the book and have a follow-up discussion about it. Haidt's argument is not that it is parents' fault; at least, I didn't understand his argument that way. He is saying instead that there is a culture of what he calls "safetyism" in our culture around kids that is well-meaning and easy to understand, but that also has some significant unintended consequences from a child development and mental health perspective. He discusses covid and its impact in the book too. Far from dismissing it, he sees it as an accelerant of trends that were underway. And presents evidence of this.