As a father to two young children, social media and the culture of selfies and narcissism I feel it helps foster worries me.

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2017/mar/28/social-media-star-creator-camp-los-angeles

Are my concerns justified? Any teenage parents out there with selfie loving kids or am I worried about nothing and do they just do teenage things like I did like starting fires at every opportunity, smoking and looking for hedge pron?

As a parent you are wired to worry, what did your folks worry about with you? The dangers of rock and roll? If you were going to come home with a safety pin through your nose?
Be part of it and get on with it, the genie has bolted out of the stable door and is making instagram vids in the park.

That just sounds like narcissism, which does seem to be a growing problem and needs to be dealt with. Social media is just how it is being channelled.

I just made sure my teenager knew that anything she puts or sends online – whether that be bullying, racist, or naked pictures – cannot be retrieved and would probably come back to haunt her as an adult.

Like it or not the income and star status that can be had on social media is an attraction and career option for youth today. Is it that different to acting camp or music camp to them. Could be worse, could be pornstar camp, that’s another aspirational career choice for many youngsters from age of 12 and up as it’s seen as normal and gives access to fame and fortune.

cannot be retrieved and would probably come back to haunt her as an adult.

Trump and his cronies are busy publishing a quick guide on that.

MSP

That just sounds like narcissism, which does seem to be a growing problem and needs to be dealt with. Social media is just how it is being channelled.

I think you’ve got that mixed up. Social media encourages narcissism and the internet is how social media is channeled.

I just made sure my teenager knew that anything she puts or sends online – whether that be bullying, racist, or naked pictures – cannot be retrieved and would probably come back to haunt her as an adult.

Pretty much this. My girls have received talks from the police (in class at school, I hasten to add!) about the importance of not putting stuff online that you wouldn’t want shared with all the world, etc.

Are my concerns justified? Any teenage parents out there with selfie loving kids or am I worried about nothing and do they just do teenage things like I did like starting fires at every opportunity, smoking and looking for hedge pron?

Yes, I do think to a certain extent you’re worried about kids doing things that are out of your control, and in the immense majority of cases nothing serious will come of it. I think you do need to accept that today’s 12-13 year olds (and particularly girls IME) have a phone stuck to their hand, it’s an important part of their social life and I’d say is not so much negative, as different to how we were at their age.

I think you do need to accept that today’s 12-13 year olds (and particularly girls IME) have a phone stuck to their hand, it’s an important part of their social life and I’d say is not so much negative, as different to how we were at their age.

The phone in the hand and using it to socialise is not really my concern. From what I have seen, it’s that the photos published and the experiences shared are about ‘me’ and not perhaps the experience itself or the people it was done with.

narcissism, which does seem to be a growing problem and needs to be dealt with

how can it be dealt with?

Wow, just WOW.
The sooner that people realise that this sort of ego feeding nonsense is just that, nonsense, the better.

Bloke has found a hole in the market there. Gonna make a packet with these training courses! Stupid idiots will pay out their $1000s and then disappear just like millions of other internet twerps and he’ll still be rolling in it. Clever.

narcissism, which does seem to be a growing problem and needs to be dealt with

Is it really a growing problem? Alpha males and drama queens have existed for years, are they really any worse now? Trump’s obviously a narcissist, he might use twitter now but that didn’t exist when he was growing up.

I’m not convinced it really needs “dealing with”, either – society is pretty self-correcting, you might think you’re perfect but that doesn’t mean that the rest of your workmates or social circle are going to put up with you.

Bloke has found a hole in the market there. Gonna make a packet with these training courses! Stupid idiots will pay out their $1000s and then disappear just like millions of other internet twerps and he’ll still be rolling in it. Clever.

Pretty much this.

Bloke has found a hole in the market there. Gonna make a packet with these training courses!

’15 years since our inception’

And 46 whole views! 8)

[video]https://youtu.be/z_gWCIysPrw[/video]

that doesn’t mean that the rest of your workmates or social circle are going to put up with you.

That’s where Social Media fills the gap that it helps create. It’s up for debate whether or not this or that kid was going to become a vapid self-adoring selfie had it not been for this opportunity to broadcast it freely to millions, all day every day. Maybe in another world they might have become doctors or scientists, cello players or educators. Who knows? But internet addiction is going nowhere. Social media seems to be the place where individuals with both low-self esteem and rampant narcissism somehow seem to make pretend friends with millions and then whine/brag about being single.

And 46 whole views!

And now a Guardian article! 😀

’15 years since our inception’

Blimey, a visionary in fact.

thegreatape – Member
I just made sure my teenager knew that anything she puts or sends online – whether that be bullying, racist, or naked pictures – cannot be retrieved and would probably come back to haunt her as an adult.

+1 here. Seemed to work with eldest daughter who is now 22. Boys at 10 and 14 have same message, fingers crossed….

10 yr old has his own YouTube channel thingy – it’s quite entertaining 🙂 and he has loads of followers !

The sooner that people realise that this sort of ego feeding nonsense is just that, nonsense, the better.

I don’t think it is ego feeding – it’s just part of what is life for teenagers right now.

Those very same teenagers will grow up (mainly) unharmed by their experiences just as we did and in 20 or so years they will be having the same concerns and the same conversations with their children.