The American Psychological Association (APA) published its first “Recommendations for Healthy Teen Video Viewing” this month, a resource to help parents protect their kids from inappropriate online content.
Parents certainly need all the help they can get. Social psychologist Jonathan Haidt estimates American teenagers spend, on average, five hours per day on social media. Research links excessive screentime to negative physical and mental health consequences including increased depression and anxiety, poor body image, low self-esteem, poor sleep, suicidal ideation and lower life satisfaction.
But the APA isn’t a neutral organization. It embraces gender ideology and identity politics in ways that frequently lead parents astray. In particular, APA encourages parents to “affirm” children’s gender confusion, up to and including subjecting them to dangerous transgender medical interventions.
APA’s bias bleeds into its “Recommendations for Health Teen Video Viewing,” but the resource isn’t entirely devoid of helpful tips. Here’s what parents should take away, and what they should disregard.
The resource gets the following points wrong.
Expert organizations aren’t immune from political and ideological bias or manipulation. That doesn’t mean you should teach your kids to eschew experts. Instead, teach your kids to parse out reliable information from bias and political narrative — like the Daily Citizen does in this articles.
Gender confusion is an obstacle that makes children feel uncomfortable in their minds and bodies. Affirming gender confusion implies children must fix themselves to correct for some divine error.
Parents should not celebrate or affirm gender confusion. Nor should children experiencing gender confusion be allowed unfettered access to the internet.
Instead, parents should consistently affirm their children’s God-given, sexed bodies. God does not tell us lies through our bodies. If a child begins to experience gender confusion, parents should be compassionate and get them faith-based, psychological counseling.
Focus on the Family’s gender and sexuality resources are linked at the end of this article.
Parents should teach their kids to treat others with respect, regardless of their race, religion or socioeconomic background. But in this context, “diversity and inclusion” refers to “Diversity, Equity and Inclusion” (DEI) — an ideological stance that considers race an integral part of human identities and blames all social and economic inequalities on racial bias.
DEI assumes intrinsic enmity between people of different races. Kids should not be inducted into this philosophy.
To learn more about problems with DEI, check out the Daily Citizen’s interview with Monique Duson.
Studies show technology can reinforce prosocial behavior, but only humans can teach values like empathy and relational skills like observing social cues. Appropriate videos can’t replace the value of loving and attentive parenting.
For all its flaws, the APA’s “Recommendations for Healthy Teen Video Viewing” gets the following points right.
Avoid streaming services and social media sites with content recommendation algorithms, short-form videos that play automatically and places to post comments and reactions.
These features feed children more of the kinds of content they’re interested in on an automatic loop. A child interested in video game streams, for instance, could sit for hours watching similar videos without needing to move a muscle.
It’s a slippery slope from there to daily, excessive use — and the accompanying negative side effects.
Developing minds are impressionable. Don’t let your kids watch videos exhibiting behavior you don’t want them to emulate — think violence, physical and online bullying, substance abuse, promiscuity, crude language and self-harm.
Sometimes “harmful content” is obvious. Gladiator isn’t appropriate for kindergartners. Ariel on Disney Junior is.
But often, it’s not so cut and dry. Different children can react differently to the same content due to differences in maturity, personality and behavior. A fantasy violence scene appropriate for one child, for instance, could be inappropriate for a highly sensitive child, or one prone to aggression. Similarly, a movie appropriate for most 13-year-olds might be appropriate for a mature 12-year-old.
Of course, no parent is perfect. Kids will inevitably watch something inappropriate — a mature movie at a sleepover, a YouTube video on a friend’s phone, or a scene you forget to skip during family movie night.
All is not lost. If your child watches something that makes you uncomfortable, start a conversation about it. APA writes,
The effects of negative content can be buffered if followed by discussion with adults to help teens understand what was viewed, engage in comparisons between video content and family values/preferences, and consider problem-solving or coping strategies teens could use for experiences similar to what they viewed on screen.
Improve and polish your own media habits before you work on your kids’. They will imitate you.
APA writes,
Studies show parents’ own media consumption and reactions to online content can significantly shape adolescents’ attitudes and behaviors toward media. It is critical for parents to model healthy viewing behavior.
If you’re video consumption needs some work, start by cutting down excessive usage and staying off your phone when eating or engaging in conversation.
Influencers — online personalities that build followings on platforms like TikTok and YouTube — hold impressive sway over their audiences. Viewers with developing brains are particularly vulnerable to being influenced by unhealthy personalities.
So, get to know the influencers your child watches or interacts with. Don’t allow them to engage with creators that demonstrate harmful behavior, like destroying things for fun, talking obsessively about calorie counting or diets, cursing, promiscuity or materialism.
Even appropriate influencers can convince children to pursue online fame themselves. The APA recommends impressing on teens that “it is difficult, and not always profitable, to become [an] influencers.”
Adolescents need help navigating the lies and half-truths that saturate the internet. Parents should teach them how to identify and use reliable sources, verify sensational or anecdotal stories, and spot fake images and videos.
Media literacy also refers to understanding media bias.
Kids tend to accept information at face value, but every video piece of internet content is created with a goal in mind. These motives vary from entertaining viewers to getting them to support a political candidate or cause. Parents should help kids learn to discern these motives so they aren’t manipulated.
Take what you can get from the APA’s “Recommendations for Healthy Teen Video Viewing” — but don’t accept their information uncritically. It is frequently captured by illiberal ideologies, as demonstrated here.
Additional Articles and Resources
For families and individuals struggling with transgender issues, Focus on the Family offers a free, one-time counseling consultation with a licensed or pastoral counselor. To request a counseling consultation, call 1-855-771-HELP (4357) or fill out our Counseling Consultation Request Form.
Focus on the Family: Transgender Resources
Becoming a Screen-Savvy Family: How to Navigate a Media-Saturated World — And Why We Should
Pediatrics Organizations Urges Their Peers to Cease Harming Children
Transgenderism and Minors: What Does the Research Really Show?
Doctor Refuses to Publish Major Study Finding Puberty-Blocking Drugs Don’t Help Children
‘Trust the Science’ About ‘Gender-Affirming Care.’ What Science?
American Society of Plastic Surgeons Backs Away From Supporting ‘Transgender’ Surgeries
Surgeon General Recommends Warning on Social Media Platforms
Social Psychologist Finds Smartphones and Social Media Harm Kids in These Four Ways
Survey Finds Teens Use Social Media More Than Four Hours Per Day — Here’s What Parents Can Do
The Harmful Effects of Screen-Filled Culture on Kids
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