YOUR CUE

Write down one thing you fear about your kids and technology and one thing you’ll do to proactively combat that fear.

EPISODE RECAP

As much as we all enjoy the internet and can’t imagine our lives without it, as parents, we all feel a bit uneasy about it, too. With the world at our kids’ fingertips through the use of smartphones and other internet-based devices, sometimes, it feels like our hands are tied when it comes to protecting our kids from the dangers of the internet.

This is why today’s conversation is so important and so relevant — studies show suicide and depression among our teens is at an all-time high thanks to the pressures of social media and the feeling that they can’t quite measure up to the lives of others. And for parents of younger kids, you’re not exempt from the dangers either — internet access is exposing kids of all ages to things we got exposed to once we were well into adulthood.

So how do we protect our kids from the dangers that lurk online? Well, today’s guests share their insights on this very topic. Today, we’re joined by Titania Jordan, chief parent officer at Bark, an app that helps adults keep kids safe online across various social platforms; Dave Adamson, a photographer and social media and online pastor at North Point Community Church; and Kara Powell, executive director of Fuller Youth Institute

We’ve got to remember our kids are grappling with their identity, where they belong, and what their sense of purpose is. While social media gives positive answers to these three questions, it also answers them negatively, plummeting our kids’ self-worth and increasing their sense of self-doubt. Because social media and the internet are so easy to get addicted to, it’s not uncommon for our kids to become defined by technology.

There’s one thing today’s podcast guests all agree parents can do right now: Start having conversations with your kids about who they’re talking to online, what they’re seeing, how they’re responding to it all. Some of these conversations will be hard, but we want our kids to come to us first with the hard stuff, especially since their peers aren’t mature enough to handle the weightiness of tough situations.

For more insight, tune into this week’s episode, the final installment of our three-part technology series on the Parent Cue Live podcast!

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