Tell your teens to stop vlogging a dead horse by giving up on social media, says Fiona Phillips
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Maybe it’s because I’m so damn entertaining and knowledgeable. Maybe it’s because I provide so much love and attention. Maybe I AM Supermum. Who knows?
Is there a magic mum formula, a secret to having two kids who DON’T do Facebook? Or Instagram? Or Twitter? Who aren’t self-obsessed selfie senders? Who aren’t vloggers ?
They used to do some of them. USED to, mind. It’s the latest teenage trend as far as social media’s concerned.
You mean I’m not Supermum? No. Social media disillusionment – there’ll be a helpline for it before you know it – is upon us.
Apparently two-thirds of teens are sick of social media, with some going as far as to say they wouldn’t mind if it had never been invented.
(Image: Getty Images Europe)
Whoah! Steady on. How would I find out that I might have a life-threatening condition, or at least a urine infection, if I didn’t have online chats with pseudo-sick folk?
Or discover there are people out there who actually DON’T like me if Twitter was no more? Couldn’t care less about Facebook , mind you. If I want to share my news with people that matter I’ll text them. Or Skype. Or Facetime. Or maybe even phone them. That might be nice.
Better than the negative aspects – cyber bullying, radicalisation, sexting, trolling, anxiety etc – that often come hand-in-hand with addiction-level social media surfing.
I witnessed the effect sending a selfie via Instagram had on three students during an experiment for BBC1’s The Truth About Stress. As each student sent their pictures, stress levels crept up, then soared as responses came back.
Anxiety disorders are rising among young people, much of it linked to social media use. Fifty seven per cent of teenagers said they’d received abusive comments online, while 56% admitted to being “on the edge of addiction”.
(Image: Getty Images)
The NSPCC reports young girls are seeking help for body image anxiety, after comparing themselves to ‘perfect’ Instagram images.
Social media is hugely beneficial, but youngsters experiencing too much of the negative side are opting out.
Loose Women’s Stacey Solomon has banned her two boys , Zachary, nine, and Leighton, three, from using it.
“There is absolutely not an age when I’ll let them have social media,” she said. “I have got them kids’ watches they can use to message each other and me, so it stays between us.”
It seems today’s teens are increasingly adopting a similar mindset.