Marijuana and alcohol are two common (mostly) recreational substances used by both adults and adolescents under the age of 18. Given the recreational nature of both substances, accompanied by their own risks of problematic use, consideration must be made as to what level of usage as well as the context of usage is appropriate by making a risk analysis assessment for the potential benefits.
Not only does this assessment need to be made on an individual level, but adults should be striving to teach their children how to accurately make this assessment for their own use.
About 10 percent of 12-year-olds say they have tried alcohol, but by age 15, that number jumps to 50 percent. Additionally, by the time they are seniors, almost 70 percent of high school students will have tried alcohol, half will have taken an illegal drug, and more than 20 percent will have used a prescription drug for a nonmedical purpose. The sooner you talk to your children about alcohol and other drugs, the greater chance you have of influencing their decisions about drinking and substance use.
– Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)
Now, in the information era, a new substance should be a topic of discussion between parents and their children: the substance of social media.
While there are a lot of good things that come from social media, there is a fine line between usage that is beneficial and usage that is detrimental. Learning where that line is and how to navigate to the positive side is both difficult and currently confusing. Many parents today, which are not part of the digital native generation, are still trying to figure this out for themselves. But regardless, children growing up in this era need assistance and parental guidance on using social media beneficially to avoid the potential pitfalls that come with problematic social media use as they are developing.
Not too long ago, my wife and I were driving from Salt Lake City to Las Vegas with our niece and two nephews. The eldest of the three, middle school-aged, has his own phone and fairly routinely goes onto the viral social media app TikTok. Typically all three of them take part in watching TikTok because it is objectively entertaining.
Personally, I am not opposed to TikTok. I think there is a lot of beneficial content on the app, ranging from funny videos sure to pull a laugh out of someone feeling down to credible news clips capable of spreading important information quickly. I am especially a fan of accounts like Hank Green’s, where interesting and evidence-based information is presented in an entertaining way.
@hankgreen1 #climatechange #hope (posted by @Payton Mitchell)
♬ original sound - Hank Green
But I also know that there is a lot of negative and harmful content on the app as well. As is true for just about every social media platform to exist.
Something became very apparent to me on our drive through the desert revolving around the relationship between children and social media, particularly the negative side of it.
Somewhere along the route, one of my nephews expressed that he was thirsty, so my wife offered him a Dasani water bottle. Repulsed, the nephew denied the offering and began to explain how Dasani adds poison to their water and that it is bad for their health. Confused because I had not encountered this flavor of information, I asked him where he heard that. The immediate, and very predictable response, TikTok.
For the record, the dramatic claim that Dasani adds poison to their water or that it is generally bad for your health is incredibly misleading. The claim, which originated on TikTok, stated that Dasani adds potassium chloride to their water, a compound also used as the last step for lethal injections. While someone might be able to extrapolate a certain level of truth from this information to the social media claim, it completely ignores the context that the amount of potassium chloride added to water is minuscule in comparison to lethal injections, potassium chloride is a common nutrient added to water and food, and that ingestion of potassium chloride does not have the same effects of intravenous injection of potassium chloride.
Walking back this piece of misinformation in not only my nephew’s but all three of their brains (the other two quickly joined into my nephew’s defense, also having seen the TikTok) was no easy task. Trying to use my scientific knowledge of the subject had little effect, partially because I am not great at simplifying things, but also because at their age, the science or evidence portion of the claim isn’t easily understood. They fell victim to the insidiously effective emotional appeals so common on social media because it was easy for them to relate the concept of this chemical compound being used in executions and also being added to water. They weren’t able to decipher what information was stretched or factual because they haven’t really developed the necessary skills yet.
With events such as the Montana TikTok ban or Elon Musk’s continual controversies surrounding X-Corp (formerly Twitter), any discussion surrounding social media is now prone to political bias and extreme polarization. These toxins have trickled down to each subcategory of the topic, including public discourse on how parents should be intervening with their children’s social media use.
Unfortunately, the growing ideological divides in modern society are not entirely to blame for this. Academic research on the effects of social media, especially effects on adolescents, has been stumbling to find a solid footing since Facebook hit the public sphere. Don’t get me wrong, there have been some very enlightening discoveries to date, but the subject lacks clarity in consensus.
In the document posted below, I review the development of research surrounding social media use and problematic usage of it, with a particular interest in how the subject relates to adolescents. Within the paper, I explored that the study of problematic social media use is not entirely clear and was focused on time spent on social media rather than how it was used. Relatively recently, the idea was introduced suggesting that how social media is used should be the driving indicator for studying problematic effects. Because of this recency, there isn’t much concrete evidence yet to support a particular position.
However, by reviewing material from a few different disciplines and research focuses, I suggest that developing critical thinking skills in adolescents is the most pragmatic and likely effective approach to fostering positive use of social media. Going back to my road trip with family, it seems apparent that the lack of critical thinking ability allowed the misinformation gathered on TikTok to seep into a position of belief in the minds of my niece and nephews (who no longer believe Dasani is trying to kill them by the way).
Like any good dance, there are two important partners in this tango: Parents, and their children who use social media. How are parents best able to foster a partnership with their children on this? How are these critical thinking skills best developed in children?
Fortunately, with the progression toward becoming a post-truth society (some might argue that we already are one), there is now increased availability of free and public resources aimed towards helping parents develop their children’s critical thinking dispositions. Paired with some evidence-based parental techniques gives us a recipe for success.
I am personally a huge proponent of adapting learning situations to meet the effective learning style possessed by the student. It is much easier to do this in a smaller learning environment, such as a parent with their child, rather than a classroom setting. Knowing your child’s learning style will not only help them efficiently absorb and retain information and skills, but it will also help with engagement, making the process more enjoyable for the child.
Authoritative parenting, not to be confused with authoritarian parenting, is an evidence-based parenting approach that implicitly teaches critical thinking to children. It teaches and reinforces that there are reasons behind decisions, that having different opinions and perspectives is okay, and that there is significant importance to reflective thinking.
In the end, regardless of your personal opinions on social media, it is here to stay. 95 percent of U.S. teens use social media currently, and annual global expenditure on social media marketing is projected to approach 358 billion U.S. dollars in 2026. Social media has become entangled with the societal use of technology and is leveraged to progress the global economy.
Equipping not only ourselves, but the coming generations with the skills and knowledge to navigate social media in a beneficial way is important. Starting the development of these skills as early as possible in a child’s life will be exponentially beneficial as they grow into a developing technological landscape.
And when they are old enough to be joining social media platforms, as well as throughout their teenage development, make it a goal to explicitly discuss with them the risks associated with social media and how to avoid them. Just as you might speak with them about alcohol or drug use.
“We don’t have a choice on whether we do social media, the question is how well we do it.”
-Erik Qualman
