by Emily Henning, MSW Candidate
BYS Clinical Intern
Social media, I am forever telling my elementary-aged kiddos, is a lot like junk food. We crave interaction with others in much the same way we crave food to fuel our bodies. Connection is a fundamental human need; our desire to relate to others and form attachments is good and healthy. However, just as processed, chemical-filled snacks (while filling our bellies in the short-term) don’t actually nourish us in any meaningful way, so too does social media not quite sate our relational needs. It promises connection and can provide a pseudo-sense of belonging, but genuine authenticity is often missing when interactions are curated and artfully produced.
Smartphones are addictive. Social media is addictive. (I say this as an individual who owns a smartphone and finds myself inexplicably drawn to have it in hand). As a parent, I am responsible for shielding my children from harm when possible and helping them navigate it when it is not. Junk food, objectively, is not a healthy choice, and yet our family visits fast food drive-thrus on occasion. These indulgences are much less harmful when the bulk of our family’s diet is healthy, whole foods. Similarly, when looking to the future, I do not plan to prohibit my children from social media entirely, as it has become such a prominent part of the culture. Instead, I will guide them in fostering genuine, substantial connections with others outside of social media, ensuring they are socially and relationally “fed,” even as they consume a bit of junk.
A final note about children, teens, smartphones, and social media: let’s be gentle with each other as we all seek to find our own solutions to these very real issues. We parent differently, with varying permissions and guidelines, and we are all doing our best.