Welcome to part two in A Wired Family’s series on Social Media and Teens Depression.

Last year we surveyed 10,000 students on their use of social media. To our surprise, YouTube was by far their number one app. Netflix was second.

Since over 50% of parents have no restrictions on their child’s social media use – many kids have access to everything available on YouTube, including Pornography, videos on taking your life and of course the many YouTube stars – who most adults know little about. This impacts our children – and can impact how they feel about themselves and their views of the world.

Is YouTube a bad app? No… but it requires careful parental guidance… which frankly seldom occurs.

But what about our own use of technology?

The time that we spend on our phones has taken away from the time we spend being present with and for our kids. This has created a chasm in many homes… and quite possibly is one of the causes we see today with teen depression.

Sadly, as this video illustrates, the numbers are real.

To discover more about your child’s use of technology, and how you can help guide them through digital life, please consider ordering our book. All proceeds go to future research that supports our mission to educate families on their child’s digital tattoo.

 

NOTE: If you’d like us to come to your school or organization for our presentation on the impact of social media on teens, please contact us at: marybeth@awiredfamily.org