In our sexualized, media-saturated world, that cell phone is a loaded machine gun, assaulting an entire generation of children with the full knowledge and approval of clueless parents. How ironic! In the name of child safety, we won't send our children to the bus stop without our direct supervision, but we allow them to talk to sex-traffickers in the privacy of their own bedrooms. We demand that kids carry their phones to school so we parents can text them during lunch, but we don't intervene when they are threatening classmates in private chat rooms? We give teens full access to explicit, violent pornography and are surprised when they send naked pictures to their friends on Snapchat. If your child is making good choices, they shouldn't care if you monitor their posts on social media. Right?
It is time to get the facts straight:
So, here is how this conversation with your teen should go...
No, you can't talk to strangers who are grooming you for the sex-trade. No, you can't videotape yourself dancing behind a towel in the shower. No, you can't send naked photos to your classmates. No, you can't bully classmates, videotape their mistakes, and humiliate them for your personal social gain. No, your days cannot be filled only with Youtube videos and texting, and I will not lie so that you can get social media accounts that are restricted to 13 years and older. No, I love you too much to allow you to waste your childhood being passively entertained. The phone belongs to me and I will limit the time you spend on it for your health and well-being. No, I don't care what your friends or their parents do because you are my responsibility and I love you. I want you to read, play outside, learn to handle boredom, do chores, and have face-to-face interactions. To ensure that, I will be watching everything you do, every site you visit, and everything you post until you are a fully-mature adult. I'm giving you back your childhood, because it is my job to be a parent. And parents set boundaries to protect their children.
http://trailheadcounseling.com/teen-porn-addiction/
https://time.com/5555737/smartphone-mental-health-teens/
It is time to get the facts straight:
- 48% of 11-16 year olds reported seeing pornography online and 7% had shared a naked or semi-naked image of themselves online.
- 11 is the average age for a child to first view Internet pornography.
- 1 in 5 teenagers received a sexual solicitation online
- 55% of minors survivors of sex-trafficking met their traffickers through text or online.
- According to Elizabeth Englander, Professor of Psychology at Bridgewater State University, "giving a young child a phone increases the likelihood that the child will either become a victim of bullying or bully themselves."
- Teens who use smartphones for at least 5 hours a day are 70% more likely to have suicidal thoughts than those with one hour of smartphone usage.
- The largest group of Internet porn consumers is children ages 12-17.
- 65% of 8-14 year olds have been involved in a cyber-bullying incident.
- 59% of teens reported being bullied online.
So, here is how this conversation with your teen should go...
No, you can't talk to strangers who are grooming you for the sex-trade. No, you can't videotape yourself dancing behind a towel in the shower. No, you can't send naked photos to your classmates. No, you can't bully classmates, videotape their mistakes, and humiliate them for your personal social gain. No, your days cannot be filled only with Youtube videos and texting, and I will not lie so that you can get social media accounts that are restricted to 13 years and older. No, I love you too much to allow you to waste your childhood being passively entertained. The phone belongs to me and I will limit the time you spend on it for your health and well-being. No, I don't care what your friends or their parents do because you are my responsibility and I love you. I want you to read, play outside, learn to handle boredom, do chores, and have face-to-face interactions. To ensure that, I will be watching everything you do, every site you visit, and everything you post until you are a fully-mature adult. I'm giving you back your childhood, because it is my job to be a parent. And parents set boundaries to protect their children.
http://trailheadcounseling.com/teen-porn-addiction/
https://time.com/5555737/smartphone-mental-health-teens/
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