Many parents are finding it difficult to talk with their children about social media. The first thing you want to ask yourself before you confront your child with a conversation about social media is ‘do you understand the apps your child is using?’ If the answer is no, you should do some basic research about how these apps work. You can read articles about them or watch documentaries, but nothing beats making a profile and seeing how it works. You can make your own profile and add your child to see how they are using the app, or make up an entirely new persona and see how deep the rabbit hole goes.

With the recent release of “The Social Dilemma” on netflix, people have been looking at their social media use with a new eye. This documentary-drama raises many of the same concerns that whistleblowers at social media companies have been bringing up for years now. Common concerns have been centered on how social media changes our thoughts and in turn changes our behavior (similar to the connection that drives therapy outcomes: the thought-feeling-action cycle).

A teenager’s self-esteem can be hugely influenced by their peers, which has really always been the case. But in today’s world, that influence stretches far and wide.

We all remember our teenage years. For some of us, high school was a cool place where we got to see our friends every day, showed our school spirit at rallies and football games, got to go to dances, explored the dating world for the first time, and occasionally concentrated on classwork. For others of us, high school was a place of dread where we went for eight hours every day, got picked on, didn’t fit in, and couldn’t wait to never go back. And for even others of us, it was some combination of cool and dread that fluctuated each day, and sometimes even within the day.