MY PARENTS DON’T UNDERSTAND SOCIAL MEDIA
My parents are really oldfashioned and have funny rules about technology and social media.
I’m not allowed to chat to my friends on WhatsApp in the afternoon when I get home from school. They also don’t allow it on weekends and insist my friends and I get together and socialise.
They don’t seem to understand that chatting on WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter is the new thing and that actually physically visiting your friends is now out of fashion.
It’s so much more convenient to stay at home and chat via social media. What’s up with my parents and how could I help them to get into the 21st century? Sipho, email Your parents’ perspective might seem old-fashioned to you, but there is in fact wisdom in what they’ are saying. It’s likely that what they’re saying is based on their gut instinct that face-to-face interaction is important when socialising with others.
Socialisation is an important developmental phase in adolescence, as it’s a time when you’re figuring out who you are as an individual and how you want to express that. We learn a lot of this from our communication with others on various levels, and what’s worrying your parents is probably the fact that social media not only gives you access to life’s Pandora’s box, but also that it’s uncharted territory.
We don’t really know how it’s affecting youngsters who grow up with it because it’s so new, and several studies have shown that teens who use social media excessively tend to be more isolated, lonely, anxious and depressed.
It’s true, as you point out, that social media is a vital part of how young people in particular communicate today.
You say you want to get your parents into the 21st century, but as they’ve given you a cellphone I suggest they’re there already. Try to understand that they probably just don’t want virtual interaction on social media to take the place of personal interaction.
See page 44 for more on this topic.
‘Children have never been very good at listening to their elders, but they’ve never failed to imitate them’ AMERICAN POET AND NOVELIST JAMES BALDWIN