Social Media and Youth Mental Health Even the Surgeon General is sounding the alarm about social media for kids and teens. Our kids aren’t happy about how we regulate them on this, but we aren’t budging. Too much is at stake.
Social Media is Causing Our Children to Suffer “The nature of community is greatly affected by social media. While these platforms offer a way to connect with others, they promote shallow, fleeting interactions over meaningful, deep relationships. This can impair the development of critical social skills such as empathy and conflict resolution.”
Which connects to my next topic….
What Social Science Tells Us About How to Escape Poverty This is totally fascinating. Hint: It has everything to do with community and nothing to do with donating food, clothes, or even money.
Good Genes are Nice, But Joy is Better (You’ll sense a pattern in these articles!) “Close relationships, more than money or fame, are what keep people happy throughout their lives, the study revealed. Those ties protect people from life’s discontents, help to delay mental and physical decline, and are better predictors of long and happy lives than social class, IQ, or even genes.”
If you’re a parent of teens, you’ll appreciate these thoughts by Gretchen Ronnevik. “I’ve made a lot of mistakes, but I have nearly 4 teens now, and I’ve learned a lot the hard way, and see other parents around me with less kids who are just getting to that stage make the same mistakes I made, so I want to share what I’ve learned.”
Books (Amazon links….but remember to buy used!)
Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan. A beautifully written short novel about the power of redemption.
When We Called Myanmar Home by Julie Jean Francis. Third Culture Kids and their parents will relate to this bittersweet book about loving a country that’s not your own.
Fostered: One Woman’s Powerful Story of Finding Faith and Family Through Foster Care by Tori Hope Petersen. Though there were some parts of Tori’s story that I think she’ll see differently when she’s older, I really enjoyed this memoir of growing up in foster care. These kinds of stories always give me insights into my own kids.
This reunion with kids they’ve known their whole lives was truly special.
Gil and his brother took the boys on a camping trip.