> You can't really prevent a teenager from doing something if they set their mind on it. All we can really do is educate.
So also give them access to tobacco and booze?
So also give them access to tobacco and booze?
Tobacco is a step further in terms of addictive potential, but I think the US could generally learn from Europe's approach to adolescent drinking.
These surveys are also done on American adolescents, who are more likely to obtain and consume alcohol illicitly than their European counterparts. It would be interesting to see comparative statistics on the two.
Finally: this bulletin mixes up different demographics: you have (1) COAs who are more likely to become alcoholics themselves, (2) adolescents who engage in binge drinking, which is generally correlated with alcoholism in adulthood, and (3) an unmeasured population of drinking-but-not-binging adolescents.
What I do vividly remember is having US exchange students in uni age 21+ who binge drank themselves into oblivion everywhere, catching up on everything at once without anyone around.
No argument that education is important, and that some would seek and find a way around the restriction, like they do with alcohol. But I’m sure that restricting access to social media under a certain age like it is the case for alcohol would significantly reduce the use of social media in the affected age group.
And that's the thing: as a teenager if you don't have access to <disallowed thing>, there's surely at least one kid in your class, whose parents are either largely absent or particularly lenient, and who will provide you with whatever you need.
In the case of social media I'd imagine a secret separate phone without parental restrictions and SIM card swapped out for the time being. Maybe even a separate SIM card, should the first one be restricted on the provider level. Or just rooting the device and rendering any control moot. There's always this one guy who'll help you out if your parents are too strict in your view.
Of course there's going to be some reduction, but you have to ask yourself: what's the plan when the kid turns eighteen and you can't legally control their internet usage - not when they have a SIM card on their name? You just let go of any restrictions on that day?
kids need to take to learn control of things that are harmful and how to engage them rather than be kept away from them. This avoidance behavior to me seems to be a consequence of now endemic helicopter parenting. If you hide things from kids, they don't gain the confidence of dealing with them or coming to you on their own terms.
The goal shouldn't be to reduce social media usage, it should be to equip teenagers with tools to be resilient and take control of the way they use social media. It's in a sense like bullying. Yes, you can shield your kids from exposure to it, or you can teach them to confront it. What's better long term?
Depends where you live, but in some EU countries, teens start drinking and smoking and already give up on cigs and beer before American teens even start.
It's pretty common to see 14 year olds smoking and drinking beer outside in public despite these being officially allowed when you're 18.
Teens will always try to do what adults tell them is forbidden and bad for them, because doing forbidden things is enticing and makes you look cool and rebellious.
I think every year that a teenager doesn't start drinking alcohol is a net benefit. They black out at college parties at 20 so what? By that time their brain is more developed. I think Europeans have a very unhealthy attitude towards alcohol and their kids pay the price of it. And they do not give up alcohol at all. On the contrary, they don't know how to party without alcohol for the rest of their life.
There is a pub culture here, for example my university had pubs and bars on campus there was a lot of activities like Trivia nights etc. with heavy drinking involved. Pool tables at pubs were pretty common. During Uni I'd often hang out with my friends for a few hours drink beer shoot pool, grab a kebab on the way home, that was a pretty typical night out. Sports involved a lot of drinking as well, I played cricket while I was in university. I'd go to the pub with my cricket team after every game.
I think the American experience, especially around University is more focused around house parties and drinking games (unless the keg party, ping pong ball, cup flipping you see on TV shows is just a Stereotype).
The don't give it up, but they use it in moderation. The prevalence of alcoholism is generally higher in the US than in Europe:
https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/alcoholis...
The US especially leads in alcoholism among women.
Furthermore, you won't have parents afraid of banning social media or phones for kids because it's a practical requirement for a social life in current age or something like that