Ok, if you do, I’m sorry. The title was sort of a click-bait to get you interested. A cheap trick and not very intelligent. The reason why I kind of mean what I wrote in the headline, is because I don’t like that medias are tricking, competing, or hustling to get you to stay on, read longer, view longer, engage longer. “If it bleeds, it leads” seem to be build into the core of the news-desks as well as the social media algorithms. The fight for our attention has gone on for a long time, and the tools are evolving.
Is it the social media that affect the young people’s mental health?
War, violence, economic uncertainty, climate change, natural disasters, accidents, public shaming, threats are examples of things that certainly effects young people’s mental health. It may seem like the social media is promoting this kind of content, but the algorithms in the social media does not care about the actual content. Its singular purpose is to get you to stay on as long as possible. It’s supposed to grab your attention, and having the content shocking, horrendous or provoking is a well-known tool to do exactly that.
Our youth, converted to datapoints, converted to money
In social media the content is not the real product, the user is the product, and the big-tech companies sell their vast networks and databases to the highest bidder, to sell products or propaganda. Another problem is that extremist views, are more likely to get pushed to users, by the algorithms, because it’s more shocking. This makes the public debate gradually but fast, more polarizing, and hostile. The ‘inconvenient truth’ and the conspiracy theories are at the same time pushed out to the public. Linear and written media are unfortunately trying to stop the leak of users to social media by using some of the same tactics, and more then ever, the stories break, are shaped, and evaluated on social media, before it reaches the traditional media platforms. This makes the total media scene a very uncertain and frightening arena for kids to experience.
Apocalypse now?
I don’t believe in demonizing new technologies, and I’m not sold by the apocalyptic theories of technological singularity, but parents and grandparents will an exponentially harder time understanding the risks (and possibilities) of the new medias if it’s money to be made by making content that isn’t quality tested. It’s a paradox that the government in China uses TikTok to make young people feel better by tweaking the applications algorithm, but in the rest of the world the government just observe that the “anorexia pandemic” is partly fuelled by pro-ana content.
What shall I fight with, what is my weapon?
It is a lot of uncertainty in the world right now, and it is “blasted” to our youth “up to 11”. However, I don’t believe that young people need absolute certainty to build resilience. But they need hope. The best way to make young people to feel more safety is to stop the wars that are going on in our part of the world. It’s the adult and older generations responsibility and generational duty to give young people hope and the most important aspect of security. The feeling of belonging, of being accepted and loved. One especially important group of people in this regard are the grandparents.
Grandparents can be wiser than the parents, and if they are accepting without any agenda, it will be the most powerful safety net for kids and youth. The role of the grandparents in Norway has changed fast. Before grandparents had a vital part in the family structure. They were more available and often a bigger part of the grandchildren’s life. The “Baby boomers” and “Generation X” has been a part of a fantastic economic revolution in the Nordic countries. Some of them feel intitled to use some of the wealth on themselves and goes on long trips or move away from where their kids and grandkids live. I call for the grandparents to take a more active role in their grandchildren’s lives. This is why I often ask for the grandparents to attend the discharge meeting after I have had their grandchildren as parents in the children’s psychiatric ward, here in Bergen University Hospital.
Finally, as the Norwegian poet Nordahl Grieg wrote about in his most famous poem “Til Ungdommen” (To the Youth) if we take care of your children, everything will be ok. □