It is no secret that the world our children are growing up in is different from that of their parents and grandparents.
Most adults today have no idea what it’s like growing up with every teenager having a magical piece of glass in their pocket that can summon or create nearly limitless content.
So it presents a parenting challenge for everyone raising young people in a completely different universe from which many of us were accustomed.
Still, values are values, and it is incumbent on all of us not to let our children be raised by internet morons.
Case in point was a disgraceful incident that took place in White County involving a TikTok stunt known as the “skull-breaker challenge,” where two 15-year-olds now face criminal charges.
The “challenge” involves two people coaxing an unsuspecting victim to jump into the air, then kicking their legs from under them while videoing for social media sharing.
The victim in the recent incident, also age 15, has special needs and was targeted for the challenge by two girls he thought were his friends. The video was allegedly filmed at the school during a class break.
TikTok has urged users to report videos containing the challenge, and has repeatedly warned of the dangers, which have caused serious injuries in the U.S. and Great Britain in particular.
This awful incident is just an example of what can happen without proper parenting and oversight of our children’s activities on phones and the internet.
Whether it is children exchanging nude photos, cyberbullying or the latest in an endless series or detestable “challenges” that become all the 15-minute rage, these things are a net negative to the proper growth of young people.
Apps like Twitter and YouTube and rife with obscenity, pornography and violence that need to be screened from our young people.
We cannot let the internet raise our children. We must instill the character our children will need to lead productive lives in the future.
Those two 15-year-old girls will never be the same after making such a dangerous choice to hurt someone for no reason.
They have to live with those ramifications, but it stands as a teaching moment for all of us to help our young people make better choices in the future.