My social media feeds are angry.
Really angry.
People sharing photos of their neighbours, calling out strangers on the street.
Judging people they have never met for how they are handling the isolation.
And the teens are taking a hit.
Photos of them in groups, playing in forbidden parks.
Shared by adults on social platforms.
It needs to stop.
Until coronavirus came into our lives it felt like we were making some serious progress into kids mental health – and the pressure of being a teen in a social media dominated world.
And then as suddenly as economy dived, so did the awareness of our kids. As we worry, panic, and stress about the future – we take our children along for the ride. This is a first for us, as well as them.
They have no school.
They are being told to stay away from friends.
They can’t see family.
As a teenager, I wanted more than anything my freedom, to be away from my parents, and now we have locked ours up with us.
It’s not a holiday for them. Holidays don’t come with ultra stressed parents who are worried about security and working from home.
It’s not a holiday for them when they are suddenly expected to be disciplined enough to school themselves.
It must be terrifying, to suddenly have all you have known in your short life, change so dramatically.
To have parents who have lived their lives telling you to get off the phone. To suddenly be trying to get you to socialise more online to keep that human contact. And we all know their is not always a filter on that platform.
Social media was dangerous for some of our kids – and now we push it as a lifeline.
I get the anger, I do. I see people’s frustration if they see a gang of teens possibly standing too close or forgetting themselves and hitting the park for some release.
But I’d rather my child went and sat on a swing with a friend for a rebellious streak rather than wallowed at home, lonely, isolated, depressed.
Because teen mental health was a massive problem before this and we need to look at how we support our kids and get them social.
See them on a swing? Don’t photograph them and share it on social – talk to them, give them a break. Or even leave them be and nip back with some anti-bac later.
If we are struggling as adults, spare a thought for how hard it is for the kids…..
Mental Health matters
I hear you so hard on this. This is hardest of all on them.
Seriously, thank you for writing this!
I am the mother of a teenager who has struggled a lot with his mental health, and this lockdown has hit him really hard. Already suffering with anxiety and depression, and then all of a sudden being locked away inside with just his mum and dad!
He spent the first few weeks mostly locked away in his bedroom alone. He has no brother or sister to play with, and no matter what I offered to do with him he refused. He became really low and self harmed.
I was so worried about him that I asked my dad to take him out for a couple of hours because they are very close. I then encouraged him to start going for walks and who knows if he met friends while doing this?
He now goes out and meets friends. I worry about this, I mean it makes me really anxious! One because I am on the high risk list, and two because of how judgemental everyone is being on Facebook! But they don’t know what my son is been going through 🙁
I’m just trying to do my best by my son, that’s all. I’m stuck between a rock and a hard place right now!
Im so sorry to hear this, and this is all so new and unexpected it is incredibly hard to know the right path. Im batting on instinct here – and trusting my kids to be sensible – but giving them some freeway xxxx