Do you remember those laws against texting and driving? Do we recognize that driving with a laptop opened in the front of a car is illegal in most places? Can we discuss that teens used this feature for years in spite of laws against it and multiple fatal car accidents? No one in their right minds would consider something like the speed filter a good idea. No one would be surprised that it led to people dying, including young people, yet SnapChat did it anyway. It had a filter that was roundly recorded as a central piece of fatal accidents and left it there for years. Hold that in your head for a second.

When people talk about their teens using social media and the damage that would come to their social life or the teen/parent relationship if the social media or phone was removed, are these parents really thinking this is the only option for their children? If a teen no longer has an online option for socializing, it’s unlikely that the teen will never have friends again. Yes, there will likely be a period of adjustment, but then the youth will venture out and find new friends in a different environment. This is exceedingly common in sports, and I saw it first hand as a D1 athlete in college. When you’re on the team, the team is your family. You sleep in the same houses, eat at the same places at the same times, go to the same parties, the whole thing, but when someone drops off the team, they’re no longer integrated into that social structure in the same way. They don’t get up early or eat at the same places. They don’t get housing with the same people the following year. They, in effect, just move on with their lives, and wouldn’t you know,