Why Boundaries Save Kids in the Age of Porn and Big Tech
Dr Marshall Ballantine Jones recently appeared as a guest on the Parent Hope podcast with Jenny Brown.
Jenny and Marshall discussed how parents can address the threats of pornography and social media. Marshall expressed how he often speaks to parents who are at a loss. They feel as though it is too late, or as though putting in boundaries will jeopardise the relationship. On the podcast, he not only outlines how parents can put measures in place, but also offers reassurance that such boundaries only strengthen the parent child relationship.
Parents don’t need to know the science of neurosynaptic pruning or executive function: they just need to know that it is having very real effects on the developing brain. No child is exempt to this, no matter how mature or self controlled they seem. Big tech and porn companies are prime examples of limbic capitalism. Guided by their own research, their platforms are designed to hook adolescents, making them feel helpless to resist no matter how bad it makes them feel.
Drawing on her experience as a family systems therapist, Jenny gave insight into how parents themselves can manage their own emotions when it comes to pornography and social media. Parenting in the current age is scary. While no parent should ever have to be worried about their child watching pornography at eleven, which is the average age of exposure in Australia, this is the reality we must unfortunately deal with. When parents fail to regulate their own emotions, the child only withdraws, causing more shame and risk.
https://open.spotify.com/episode/0KUV5osmLMHLJjVVSsGniA?si=f65172ecade849a7