Insert your social media instance of dislike in the title above…
Todays youth are being insidiously shaped by the mighty algorithm and AI put that on steroids.
I am no professional so what I say could be a load of garbage, BUT, you know deep down that I am speaking sense here.
In the old days of most parents in 2025 we had a tight knit group of influencers that shaped how we turned out as adults.
The vibe was simple: Your parents knew everything, their parents knew everything, adults on your street knew everything, your teachers knew everything, your priests knew everything and the way that we as children learned everything was to listen to the adults who knew everything.
That system, despite some flaws, actually worked and allowed for a more relaxed and yet far more socially connected world than what we have today.
Today we swap parenting in person with parenting by screen.
We have lost our position of ‘influencer of choice’ to a mighty machine called Algorithm!
And, what we did in the process was to allow that ‘strange uncle who was never invited to family gatherings‘ unfettered access to our children and homes.
Our children now learn everything from that ‘strange uncle‘ who manipulates his algorithm to serve up content that sells to our children.
Sidebar: Would you feel comfortable if Zuckerberg/Musk offered to babysit your children?
Second by second our children are bombarded with scenes and goals that are impossible to achieve in a short space of time. Content that creates a very real sense that Instant Gratification is at the end of a scrolling finger, scenarios and life experiences that should just be taken, body images that shame, violence that encourages anarchy, sex that is yours for the taking… the list is long!
Some of the most shared articles by today’s parents are those reminiscing about the ‘Good Old Days’.
The time has come to put that into practice and say to all these social media instances that we are tired of them GROOMING our children.
