Commentary
Over the past several years, we have seen incident after incident that has shown that the “kids are not alright,” particularly teenagers, whose rates of depression, self-harm, substance abuse, and suicide continue to rise at alarming rates.
As sociologists, psychologists, and others search for the reason this is happening, signs increasingly point to the role that social media plays in making the teenage years increasingly difficult to navigate, for both children and parents.
Teens, whose brains don’t become hard-wired until they’re in their twenties, are assaulted by various social media platforms seeking to entice them to sign up so they don’t miss “the fun.” The result is that they often engage in actions without understanding the consequences they might face, both short-term and long-term….