Respond and Engage!
TALK TO PAUL ON-AIR: 313.272.5600
WSJ: The Lonely Burden of Today’s Teenage Girls
Research from the University of Michigan’s Monitoring the Future project shows that, since 2007—the dawn of the smartphone era—girls have dramatically decreased the amount of time they spend shopping, seeing friends or going to movies. We found that many girls spend their Saturday nights home alone, watching Netflix and surfing social media.
The American Association of Pediatrics now warns that too much social-media use can lead to depression and anxiety. Social media works against basic developmental goals—physical, cognitive, relational, sexual and maturational. Girls sleep with their phones and react to every notification. As they create more interesting, supposedly happier virtual personas for themselves, their real selves diminish. Girls collect “likes” instead of making friends. They can be devastated by a cruel text or a tepid reaction to a selfie. Long before they hold hands with a date, they are exposed to online pornography and misogynistic messages.
Nick Foles, Super Bowl Champion Quarterback, after breaking his collar bone in his first game with the Jacksonville Jaguars: “God, if this is the journey you want me to go on, I’m going to glorify you in every action.”
