Are social media companies to blame for kids’ suicides? Seems like a 21st century question.
Sure, let’s blame it on the impersonal behemoths because they’re an easy target who must be preying on our innocent, angelic children’s naivete and undeveloped social and coping skills, and banking on parents who haven’t quite mastered the art of when to be parents instead of “best friends.”
Without reading the article (because I refuse to pay for Apple News), my gut reaction is that social media giants of course spend their days thinking of ways to keep people hooked on their products, keep people on their devices. But someone should be asking about the parents’ role in all of this.
A device that exposes an insecure, immature teenager (or younger?) to potential abuse needs to be monitored by an adult in the room. And maybe this is part of the issue: the adult either refuses to do their job of parenting—providing emotional support, establishing limits and guidelines—or there is little to no parental oversight in the first place. Or maybe the authority figure is feeding his or her own addiction to Facebook or Instagram, looking for affirmation themselves, bragging about a cruise to Antarctica or their gifted children and how great their lives are.
While there may be a need for regulation of some sort, and unless there is found to be something on the scale of concealed knowledge or a cover-up regarding nicotine addiction, it’s just too easy to blame everything on the big guy with deep pockets.
3 Cents' 