CAVEAT- Whenever a parent loses a child, regardless of the circumstances, the grief is immeasurable. Darren’s experience in law enforcement included delivering tragic news to families, something that was profoundly difficult for him to do. This article is not intended to diminish the pain of parents who have suffered such a loss. Rather, its aim is to open a conversation about how “some” not “all” special interest groups may be using these tragedies to push certain agendas. It’s important to approach this delicate topic with both compassion and a critical lens.
Very recently, we watched an excellent webinar sponsored by the University of Virginia, called “Making Sense of the Research on Social Media and Youth Mental Health – A discussion with Jonathan Haidt and Candice Odgers” (1) In this webinar, that we would encourage all our readers to watch, Dr Odgers, a highly respected international scholar and researcher with over 20yrs of experience in this field of study, stated:
“Children are being used as the tip of the spear to slay social media companies”
To understand the context of this statement, we encourage our readers to watch the above noted webinar in full!
For Dr. Odgers, who is a parent of a younger child, to acknowledge this fact publicly took courage and something that we completely agree with and let us explain why.
In today’s onlife world, we have understandably been seeing an increase in advocacy groups, and those wanting to sell online safety products or books, using youth as the face of campaigns to take on social media giants. We will be publishing a follow-up article where we will speak to how some groups are using video clips that were self-produced by youth on their social media feeds, as a part of their messaging and marketing campaign. The image of “some” young people suffering at the hands of platforms like Instagram or TikTok is powerful and undeniably pulls at the heartstrings. But while these campaigns may appear noble, they raise important thoughts and concerns that parents need to consider.
Children and teens are often portrayed as victims of social media’s harmful effects, whether it’s exposure to cyberbullying, body image issues, or mental health struggles. While these issues are real and need to be addressed, it’s important to ask whether using young people as the emotional crux of these campaigns is in the best interest of the youth or teens.
Advocacy groups, or those selling a product, sometimes frame youth in a way that emphasizes their vulnerability to the detriment of their freedom, autonomy, and resilience. Youth and teens are reduced to symbols of helplessness rather than being seen as individuals with their own voices and agency. Using them as the face of the fight against social media platforms often overlooks the reality that many young people are aware of the risks and benefits of social media and want to be part of the conversation rather than simply objects of sympathy – something that we anecdotally hear from teens all the time.
By focusing on the plight of youth online, these campaigns often oversimplify the issue by placing the blame solely on social media companies, which can intentionally or unintentionally absolve other responsible parties, such as parents, schools, and policymakers, from their roles in promoting digital literacy and online safety. While social media companies certainly have a “significant” role to play in improving platform safety, something we agree that many of the big social media vendors are being willfully blind to and neglecting, we believe that focusing all the attention on them can prevent a needed holistic wrap-around solution from emerging.
As parents, it’s vital to recognize that while platforms need to be held accountable for harmful content and predatory practices – something that Bill C-63 will hopefully address here in Canada. We also need to equip our children with the age-appropriate tools and digital literacy education they need to navigate these digital spaces safely. Focusing on empowering our youth with critical thinking and digital literacy skills is often a more sustainable solution than simply demonizing the technology or platforms they use.
Using youth as a strategic tool to trigger an emotional response is a common practice in advocacy, but it comes with ethical implications. These campaigns often rely on worst-case scenarios – extreme cases of harm that, while tragic, do not represent the everyday experiences of most young people on social media. The concern here lies in amplifying fear and anxiety in parents and the public, possibly at the expense of nuance and balanced solutions.
When youth are used in such emotionally charged ways, it also risks reinforcing a culture of fear around technology and youth interaction with it. This could ultimately lead to overreaction, such as calling for complete bans on social media use or overly restrictive measures, which could stifle young people’s ability to learn, socialize, and grow in today’s onlife world – in fact, we would argue such bans could lead to even greater risk.
Many campaigns that center and focus their efforts on targeting social media companies, often fail to consider the perspectives and lived experiences of the young people themselves. Instead of centering the voices of the very people these campaigns claim to protect, young people are often sidelined in favor of adult-driven narratives about what is best for them. As we like to say in many of our presentations – youth have a lot to offer us adults, however, we adults need to be willing to listen. To quote Professor Helen Christensen, “Without the involvement of young people in co-design, services for youth are unlikely to succeed.” – well said!
Young people are becoming increasingly savvy when it comes to their online experiences. Today, it’s been our experience that most youth and teens understand many of the benefits and pitfalls of these platforms better than most adults. Their voices deserve to be heard, not only in conversations about social media safety, but also in decisions about how platforms should evolve to meet their needs.
By turning youth into tools for emotional leverage, these groups may be unintentionally undermining the authenticity of youth-led advocacy. When adults orchestrate campaigns that cast youth as victims rather than collaborators, it can distort the perception of youth advocacy and diminish their credibility in other arenas.
Youth-led activism is powerful, and when young people speak for themselves, they can lead meaningful change. However, when advocacy groups steer the narrative and merely use youth for emotional impact, they risk trivializing the very real issues young people face online, reducing them to emotional talking points rather than partners in the fight for change.
It’s important to acknowledge that technology and social media can present clear and present risks, especially to younger users. However, the strategy of using youth as the tip of the spear in attacks on social media companies raises questions about agency, responsibility, and emotional manipulation. As parents, we should be asking ourselves not only whether these campaigns are effective, but also whether they are truly in the best interests of the youth they claim to represent.
Rather than positioning youth as passive victims, we should be empowering them to be active participants in shaping a safer and healthier onlife world. Let’s work with our youth and teens, not just speak for them, in the fight for better onlife experiences for all.
We understand that the views expressed above may conflict with the prevailing marketing strategies aimed at restricting or banning technology and internet access for youth that has taken a foothold. However, our position is supported by strong, evidence-based, peer-reviewed research conducted by highly respected experts in the field of digital literacy and internet safety specific to youth and teens, including Dr. Candice Odgers, Dr. Amy Orben, Dr. Peter Etchells, Dr. Sonia Livingstone, and many other subject matter experts in this field of study.
Digital Food For Thought
The White Hatter
Facts Not Fear, Facts Not Emotions, Enlighten Not Frighten, Know Tech Not No Tech
Reference:1/https://tyde.virginia.edu/livestream-odgers-haidt/
