Speak your peace
Lost in space?
BY DEBRA BECK
In my 20-plus years of mentoring teens and parents, I have never seen a greater disconnection between teens and their natural environment than I do now. When
I was young, I got up in the morning, walked to my friend’ s house or called her on a phone that was attached to a wall, and made plans to get together. We didn’ t care what we were doing as long as we were together. I have great memories of being outdoors, chewing on blades of grass and picking tangerines off a tree— then eating too many! Sometimes we would go to the local mall, hang out, laugh and be silly. We were never bored! My daughters were the same way when they were young: they got together with friends, they rode their bikes for hours, and generally entertained themselves.
Today, what I am seeing is teens spending much of their time on their cell phones, sending pictures through Instagram, Snap Chatting, messaging through Facebook and texting. Even when today’ s teens do get together, it seems they’ re not talking to each other. Instead, they are texting with someone else on their phones.
The number one complaint I hear from parents is: My teen spends way too much time on her phone. She never talks to me and when she’ s home, she doesn’ t leave her room. If I try to limit the use of her phone, she has a complete meltdown.
Conversely, the teen’ s complaint is: My parents are always trying to take my phone away!
Parents used to get their children
26 IMAGINE l FALL 2016