From Encouragement to Outrage: How Social Media Changed — and What It’s Doing to Our Kids
Alec Charles Reynolds Executive Director National American Citizen Association
I remember the early days of social media.
You’d post that you were heading to the gym, and friends would hit “like” or leave a quick comment: “You got this!” or “Proud of you for showing up.” Those small words of encouragement actually mattered. They gave you a little boost to follow through. It felt like a community — people genuinely happy for each other’s small wins.
That was the promise.
Today, the experience is very different.
Instead of simple encouragement, we get algorithms designed to keep us scrolling. Content is rewarded not for truth or kindness, but for engagement — anger, outrage, controversy, and clickbait. Influencers and creators chase followers and monetization. A small number of powerful people and groups can flood the platform with money to shape narratives, stir division, and push specific agendas.
It’s not that the people running these companies are evil. They are CEOs who answer to shareholders. Profit is part of the system. But when the business model depends on keeping users emotionally hooked, the platform stops being a tool for connection and starts becoming a tool for manipulation.
The Impact on Our Kids: What the Research Actually Shows
The human cost is real — especially for our children. Psychologist Jean Twenge has done some of the most important and sobering research on this crisis.
In her groundbreaking 2024 book The Anxious Generation, Twenge presents clear, large-scale data showing that the rapid shift from a play-based childhood to a phone-based childhood around 2010–2012 directly coincides with a dramatic collapse in teen mental health.
Key findings from her research include:
A sudden, hockey-stick rise in teen depression, anxiety, loneliness, and self-harm beginning exactly when smartphones and social media became nearly universal.
Between 2010 and 2015, the percentage of adolescents reporting major depressive episodes increased by more than 50%.
For girls aged 10–14, suicide rates and self-harm hospitalizations rose sharply — increases that were far larger than among boys.
Heavy social media use shows a clear “dose-response” relationship: the more hours a teen spends on platforms each day, the worse their mental health outcomes become.
Twenge’s data is especially alarming for teenage girls, who are disproportionately affected by constant social comparison, filtered “perfection,” and algorithm-fueled outrage.
Kids today are not just growing up with social media. In many ways, social media is raising them.
Parents across the country are experiencing this same heartbreak. They watch their once-curious and open-minded children become absorbed in online echo chambers that promote anti-American ideologies, division, and resentment — often turning against the very values their families taught them at home.
Watch Mark Zuckerberg discuss the effects of social media on children and society here:
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Practical Tips for Parents – What You Can Do Right Now
You don’t have to feel powerless. Here are concrete steps you can take today:
Set Clear Age Limits — Strongly consider no smartphones or social media before age 16 (or at minimum, delay as long as possible).
Use Device-Free Zones & Times — No phones at the dinner table, in bedrooms at night, or during family time.
Monitor, Don’t Just Trust — Use parental control tools and regularly review accounts together.
Replace Screen Time with Real Life — Encourage sports, outdoor activities, in-person friendships, reading, and family hobbies.
Teach Digital Literacy — Have open conversations about algorithms, addiction tactics, and how to spot manipulation.
Model Good Behavior — Put your own phone away when talking to your kids.
Build Strong Family Identity — Share meals, tell family stories, and teach American history and values at home.
This is why transparency matters.
We need to understand what we’re actually working with. Social media is a profit-driven attention economy that rewards division and emotional intensity. When we recognize that, we can make better choices.
We urge the companies behind these platforms to do better — not as enemies, but as fellow Americans with children of their own. Steve Jobs famously did not allow his own kids to use iPads. That kind of wisdom is still possible today.
The More You Know
The good old days of simple encouragement weren’t perfect, but they remind us what real connection feels like. We don’t have to accept today’s version as the only option. We can choose better habits, better platforms, and better values for our families.
America First. Constitution Only.
We must secure their tomorrow — together.
Call to Action
The future of our children is at stake.
If you’re tired of watching social media hijack young minds and fuel division, it’s time to act.
Join the National American Citizen Association today and become part of the solution. Help us restore truth, moral clarity, and real community for the next generation.
→ Register Now at nacagroup.org
Secure Their Tomorrow — starting with your family.