(ThyBlackMan.com) Recently the Congress of the United States held a hearing regarding the damage social media is causing. They had no problems, slamming companies like TikTok, Facebook and Instagram and it’s always easy to blame somebody else. I am not here to defend those social media companies. But I am writing this article to tell the rest of the story.
Children being bullied and exposed to adult pictures, sickos, human traffickers, pedophiles or predators online is clearly wrong on so many levels. But it is not just the fault of the social media companies letting these degenerates slip through. The Congress should have spoken about laws and rules THEY need to pass, update, or revise. Laws that protect the public, the same public CONGRESS was sent to Washington to represent and watch out for. Businesses do what they are allowed to get away with. And since the Congress talks a good game but does not stop these businesses, your political leaders/legislators/law makers are clearly at fault as well.
But wait, because it takes an entire village to raise a child, it’s not just the lawmakers and the social media companies at fault. It is also the parents who want somebody else to look after their children. The parents are at fault as well as the perpetrators of these acts online. Parents who do not seem to know what is going on in the lives of the children they are responsible for, the children they are supposed to protect, the children they are supposed to guide in the right direction. No wonder so many children are lost. No wonder so many young people are depressed and on drugs and feeling like they have no support system.
Today there is far too much software for parents to monitor what their children are doing. And when a parent does not know what his or her children are doing, that parent is at fault. We see that moving through the courts with a recent court case where the parents of a young active shooter knew that he was mentally unstable, yet they didn’t do anything about it. In fact, his father bought him a gun, even though he was under age to have it. The same gun that the youth active shooter used to kill 4 people and wound others at school. So what is happening now in the courts? The parents are being held accountable. Good.
In Georgia, where there was a huge cheating scandal throughout Atlanta public schools, teachers were held accountable and they went to prison. But everybody seemed to forget that they were not the only ones accountable. Parents must be held accountable for encouraging their children to stay on the right path and monitoring them to see that they do. Education is part of that path. And the reason the teachers cheated, though not a good excuse, was because the students were so behind that they would have severely failed. As a parent, do you even check your children’s homework anymore? Did you ever? Do you even know what their grades are?
We live in a society where it is common place for people to blame somebody else instead of looking in the mirror. That has to stop because scapegoating is not a solution. If your children are being bullied online, you should know about it. You should teach your children to speak up and speak out. If your children are mentally unstable, or suffering from anxiety and depression, you should know about it without the counselor having to tell you in a letter or a meeting. Wake up people.
During my eldest son’s early years in college, he encountered a young man who wanted to bully him. Fortunately, my son is a bodybuilder and a black belt. But that did not stop the other young man with issues from attempting to attack my son. Even though my son could physically handle it, both of them ended up in the Dean’s office, and I drove down to his college that next morning to be there. Needless to say, we resolved it. You better believe it.
I was there every time in both my son’s lives when I knew about something happening where parents needed to step in. I was never too busy. Nothing else was more important. So I have to ask you parents today, where are your priorities in looking after your children? Are you too busy? Are you full of excuses? Are you doing your own thing?
When it comes to social media and monitoring those websites for the safety of your children, it is a team effort. Legislators need to do their jobs. Social media companies need to do their jobs and be held accountable. And yes, parents and teachers and school administrators need to do their jobs. Nobody is exempt. Nobody can point the finger if they are not doing their job. Be careful throwing rocks in a glass house. And remember, children are not supposed to be raising themselves. Parents, that is what you are for. Sadly, some of you need to take a workshop on that alone.
Somehow today so many parents have gotten stressed out or so caught up in their own little worlds that they are not paying attention to what they should be paying attention to. They are not monitoring what they should be monitoring. They are not knowing what they should know about their children. That’s away from home and at home.
Do you know what goes on in your house when you are not home? Do you know who your children’s friends are? Do you know where they are when they are not at home? Do you know what they are doing? Do you know what their grades are? Do you know when they are absent from school? Do you know when they are being bullied? Do you know the websites they go to? If you don’t know these things, you are failing as a parent, pure and simple. No excuses and no blaming anybody else.
So let’s get to it. The business of protecting our children. We cannot afford to think that predators and pedophiles and sickos are not out there all over the internet and everywhere else. They are. Maybe today more than a year ago or more than before the pandemic. Not to mention the mentally ill or unstable. So you have to be sober and vigilant more than you had to be five years ago or 10 years ago. Wake up!
There is no excuse not to know what you need to know about those you are responsible for. And if you cannot do that, maybe when your child gets in trouble or in danger, the judicial system should hold you accountable just as much as the perpetrator. Protect your children. Protect your legacy. Let’s get to it.
Staff Writer; Trevo Craw
A Free Thinker, who loves to talk about Politics, etc. Also, all about uplifting the Black Community even if it doesn’t fit your mindset. One may hit me up at; TrevoCraw@ThyBlackMan.com.