Parents have to be held more responsible

for the alleged social media issues among children and teens. Schools need to be held more responsible too. 

There have been a great many people in and out of this house recently. Many of them are people I know but I do not know all of them well. Others have been strangers. All of them have said something about the proposed legislation to ban the young from social media. Only one thought "it might work". None of them believed that the "tech giants" should be responsible for implementing the ban.

I have listened rather than talked. I do not have children. I have only ever been responsible for one in the long term. The rest of my child caring experiences have been short term baby sitting experiences. Perhaps I should not be commenting at all but I found a list of papers looking for links between mental health/behavioural issues and the media interesting. It seems that, if there is a link, then the link is weak.

If that is so then what is causing the apparent increase in socially unacceptable and/or anxiety behaviours among young people? I asked that question of more than twenty people and the answers were all similar. Two things kept coming up over and over again. One was the failure of parents to have high expectations in relation to standards of behaviour. The other was what was being taught in schools. 

Yes, it is the responsibility of parents, and also schools, to teach what is acceptable behaviour. It is not the responsibility of schools alone. Parenting, it was generally agreed is hard work and it takes time. The willingness to put the time in is often hindered by the fact that it is now expected both parents will go to work - and that parenting is not considered to be work. What schools teach is sometimes at odds with what parents believe is right too and that adds to the problems.

Then there is what is being taught in schools. Instead of the "basic three R's" the people I have been listening to complained about the emphasis on issues like "climate change", gender issues, race issues and trying to instil a feeling of guilt into the young for the wrongs of the past. There was concern expressed about the culture of "victimhood" and the failure to get others to take full responsibility for their behaviours. 

More research is needed, much more research. It may be that those who are tempted to see the proposed social media ban as a solution will need to adjust their thinking. They may need to accept that they too have to take some responsibility for what their children do.