Had shared a number of wks ago, the story of a fam brought to Capitol Hill during the hearing w Tik Tok’s CEO….a fam in a district where we just started working, who a few yrs ago lost their child to suicide.
More details on that case, & others all related to Tik Tok (for those protective of TT I didnt say caused by – but related to)…were shared in this article & have emerged.
I took pieces from the article to share in coming slides bc they’re horrific, but must be discussed & used as a warning for parents➡️. On the 1st – a full yr after the loss the parents from Capitol Hill went into his phone to see what the “For You” page was STILL displaying. The content’s so graphic I dont feel comfortable writing it out…& I gave a graphic content warning atop the slide for anyone who prefers to skip. Images & thoughts no adult, let alone kid, should be fed.
One of the msgs shared was abt death by suicide in a way that Theo Fleury describes was how we almost lost him. The image – bc of how real it is to me, thru our friendship, made me sick. Another msg mimics the one we called out the other day from the Super Mario movie – the glorification of death. What are we allowing??
If you keep sliding: an explanation from a psych professor abt how teens’ prefrontal cortexes haven’t developed enough to be able to reason w these msgs. They get caught in a vortex of the onslaught of them being shared, & “thinking” your way out becomes insurmountable.
On the last 2 slides I showed the parents of this young boy highlighted…& that over 200 lawsuits like theirs have been filed against SM companies. Why? Maybe the companies shouldn’t be responsible for what others post. BUT they should be responsible for what their proprietary tools feed ppl (kids in particular).
Keep the pressure on these companies. Share these stories. Work so that no fam needs to feel this pain.
Lastly – as you may’ve seen in the last post – when we talk abt these topics…abt calling out SM, & going away from hate & division, we get even more suppressed. I dont care – these msgs need to be shared. Our lives are more impt than likes & shares.