Childhood 2.0

There should be more informational things like this out there with what we are up against these days and the insanity online and on social media. As a parent of a now young adult who did not attend public school for middle or high school, but did attend public community college for high school as a homeschooler, I was shocked at what goes on in HIGH SCHOOLS and MIDDLE SCHOOLS, according to the teens interviewed. It's nothing short of tragic. And they are right, that the parents in my generation (Gen X) are clueless, because we did NOT grow up with smart phones! We worried about date rape and being labeled a "slut" as mentioned, and people pushing drugs on us IN PERSON, people we know possibly molesting us and things like that. We did NOT have to worry (in addition to all of those things) about being raped online, in effect, by being coerced by someone we know at school into taking "nudes" or sexting, and then having the whole school pass around our nude pictures!? That is one million times worse than what we had to deal with! Your school feels like your whole world at that age! As an adult, it would be difficult to deal with, but as a teen, it would be devastating. My heart goes out to every child this has happened to! Just know that you are BEYOND anything that happens to or about your body in this world. The "you" that you are, is much more than just a body. However, we do want to take care of our bodies and keep them as healthy and safe as possible, as they are like our vehicles. And, you CAN find happiness away from all of the craziness and focus on bodies and sex and such. Spending time in nature, for one, can be very uplifting and nurturing. Nature is always there for us through anything for healing and time away from electronics and remembering that online is just virtual life and not real. For any stressful thoughts and emotions, I highly recommend Byron Katie's "The Work" free worksheets. This is more helpful that it would seem on the surface, as what we are believing in our heads is what creates our stressful emotions. And having faith in yourself, and knowing your life is SO new, and you have DECADES once you become an adult, to live your life however you want! You get to spend it focusing on goals that YOU want to achieve, and things that YOU want to do with your life, and not have to care about what anyone else ever thinks or is trying to get you to do, and this will be ancient history one day! Don't ever let anyone take your freedom and joy and hope for the future away! They can't do it without your permission! Focus on the freedom that awaits you, and you can rise above everything, and carry on with your life! You go! Whatever you are dealing with now, is TEMPORARY. You CAN still enjoy your life! Also, contrary to what almost EVERYONE in this world and society will imply, I am here to tell you, that you do not need a partner to be happy. And, in fact, relationships are lots of compromising and can be very stressful, especially when younger. You can choose instead to just be FREE and just do you, and be you, while you can! You don't have to please anyone else but your own self in life then, which can help alleviate anxiety. Trying to live how someone else wants can create more anxiety when you are still trying to figure out your own life. Just wanted to say that for any children that may read this! You can claim your own freedom from ALL of the craziness online and create the perfect life for yourself once you are an adult! Maybe focus on writing down how you would like your life to be, and what you would like to accomplish with your life, and focus on the future if the present feels like a mess. Writing things down has been shown to greatly increase the likelihood of success. Also, find mentors and study the lives of people who overcame challenges and set out to accomplish what they wanted anyway, or found ways to make the most of say a chronic health condition or whatever the case may be. Truly nothing can keep you down, if you don't let it, and it's inspiring to watch movies or read about people who overcome. So, this particular movie is a good eye-opener if you were living somewhat in a bubble but care about children, like me, or if you want to know more directly from teens about what goes on these days. And there needs to be MUCH more education like this for parents and children - children can't be educated too young in this day and age, when they start looking at phones at age 1-2 years! And people taking pictures of them all day long and with AI now, it's only going to magnify the ways in which these pictures can be misused! WE as a society should be on RED ALERT at this point and taking action! Being too laid back, has caused too many children to suffer at the hands of online predators. It definitely has opened my eyes to why so many children have mental health challenges these days! I completely understand it. Just learning about what they go through gave me anxiety and depression for the next 24 hours, and I am a perfectly happy adult otherwise. I now see that I probably am this happy partially because I don't use social media, and neither does my child! They never have! Their own choice was not to ever get a social media account, and I now can see what a HUGE saving grace that has been for both of us! However, sites like this online have been useful for parents concerned about monitoring the media's influence and so I came here to share about this movie.  Good Luck to all parents nowadays...it's definitely next level out there and about to go really next level with AI. And to all the kids, YOU are WORTH EVERYTHING! YOU decide what is best for YOU, and don't allow anyone else to talk you into things, or manipulate you. Think what is the worst thing that will happen if you say NO? What is the worst thing that will happen if you do what they are asking of you? How will you feel after each choice? And write everything down and make the choice that gives you the most PEACE and happiness. It doesn't matter what other people think of you. It really doesn't. It matters what you want for yourself in the end. You are the only one that will be living with yourself for your entire lifetime. And whatever has happened in the past, is in the past. Forgive yourself and forgive the whole situation and start today as if it was the first day of the rest of your life, because it IS! And other people's choices to harm you really just harms them as well in the end. Peace and Goodwill to everyone.

This was a great movie. Wonderful information for parents and adults who care for children. I watched this with a 12 year old and I think it was a little too much for them. There is a long section of the movie discussing porn, which can be a great conversation starter but can also be a bit too much for tweens. The end of the movie discussing suicide and violence in the media can be extremely heavy and difficult for a young tween to understand.