09/05/2025
Recently, I've witnessed something that has shaken me to my core. Multiple children in my community - bright, loved, seemingly "fine" kids - have casually used language about self-harm and su***de. Not as genuine cries for help, but as what they consider "jokes" or expressions of frustration.
This isn't funny.
This isn't normal.
And this IS NOT okay.
When su***de references become casual language for our children, we have a crisis on our hands. Behind every "joke" about self-harm are real families navigating real attempts, real loss, real pain.
As I read Jonathan Haidt's "The Anxious Generation," I'm struck by his insight: we've created a generation with overprotection in the real world and underprotection in the virtual world. Our children are safer from physical harm than ever before, yet they're drowning in digital spaces that expose them to content, comparisons, and cruelty that their developing brains simply aren't equipped to handle.
I've watched this play out firsthand - pulling my son from school because children told him to kill himself on a social media platform, seeing the casual cruelty that screens seem to amplify.
But here's what I know:
Free play saves kids.
Real connection saves kids.
Boundaries around screens save kids.
Adults who take their emotional language seriously save kids.
We need to:
- Stop treating su***de "jokes" as harmless
- Create real consequences for cruel language online and offline
- Give children back unstructured time to play, connect, and develop resilience
- Model emotional regulation instead of expecting children to figure it out alone
- Remember that behind every struggling child is often a struggling parent doing their best
To the parents reading this who feel overwhelmed, judged, or alone in this fight: I see you. This is hard. You're not failing when you set boundaries and believe me, I know what the battle entails. You're not mean when you say no to social media or situations that don't feel right. Let's choose protection over popularity, connection over likes, and real play over virtual everything.