No, I don’t mean here, though it’s possible your curious brain may have been enticed by the title. In fact, sometimes I wonder if this isn’t the primary purpose of these warnings anyway – more of an attempt to keep people watching than warn people away. What I’m talking about is the loss of innocence, perhaps even the loss of adolescence, as young people are exposed to just about everything from WAY too early an age!
To be clear, I’m not just talking about “inappropriate” content as it is typically defined, though this is certainly an issue and something we should be very concerned about. What I’m talking about is the loss of boundaries and the intentional protection of our children and youth from content they are not ready or able to process and make sense of.
It seems to me that as a society, we still have a collective consciousness for protecting our children … sort of. But once our children pass into double digits, we seem to pass the adult baton over to them, usually in the form of a smart phone. With the world at their fingertips, and parental boundaries that are either vague or absent altogether, they dive headfirst into waters they really can’t swim in. Developmentally, they’re just not ready.
Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that smart phones or technology are bad. In fact, this is just one area in which they are being overwhelmed and receiving information they struggle to make sense of. Here’s another example:
Due to the lockdown and schools moving online, I’ve had the opportunity to listen in on some of our kid’s classes. While they are certainly fortunate to have some pretty great teachers, the discussion of contentious social issues is a daily (and often poorly moderated) phenomenon. Are these discussions wrong? Of course not! But the rate at which our teens are receiving information and the lack of guidance to help them discern or critically think about these issues ultimately leads to them being overwhelmed and feeling anxious. This shouldn’t be surprising, as most adults are having a hard time keeping up these days, let alone those in the early stages of adolescence.
As a 20-year youth veteran, I’m a big believer in engaging young people in meaningful discussion. In fact, a lot of my work is doing exactly this! But too much, too fast is never a good thing and I think we’re seeing the negative effects play out in our young people. We live in a big and complicated world, filled with 24-hour news … actually, 24-hour bad news! Global issues, political issues, social issues, inappropriate content, negative influences and influencers, images and videos that will never be erased from the mind, all being SENT TO our young people, even when they’re NOT SEARCHING for this content.
They really don’t stand a chance.
It’s hard to know how to stop or even slow the barrage of information and content coming at our teens, but I think we have to try! We need to rethink how early we’re putting smart phones in kid’s hands. When we do provide them this privilege, we need to consider time limits and restrictions that will protect them, both from themselves and from others. We need to check-in and check-up on our teens regularly. We need to give them the time and space to process the big issues of our world and the big issues within themselves. And instead of overwhelming them and inducing the anxiety amongst so many youth, we need to provide a narrative that encourages peace, hope, and love, and reminds them that the burdens of our world are not for them to carry alone!
It’s time to rediscover the age of adolescence. It is … time for change!
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Sincerely, and with gratitude,
Michael Burns
Director | RE:SOUL Youth Centre