Parent and Teacher Guideline for
Gender Dysphoric Youth
Social Media Increasing the Problem
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Toddlers are not getting as many back-and-forth interactions with significant parental figures, causing speech and emotional intelligence delays. An analysis of screen time and aggressive behaviours in adolescents shows that the problem often lies with too much media time and not enough loving contact.[144] High school students spend over 7.5 hours per day in front of screens, which “reduces the rate at which one physically interacts with others in real life.”[145] This also affects the release and maintenance of adequate dopamine, serotonin, endorphins, and oxytocin doses.[146] Social media was shown to be associated with longer-lasting increases in antisocial behaviours. In contrast, television viewing, when watched together, centered on family values and was shown to have a protective effect on kids. The results suggest that the nature of the relationship between screen time and aggressive behaviours depends on the type of screen time.
Trans identities have increased with the introduction of the internet and social media. There has been a 5000% increase in girls identifying as trans.[147]
Figure 9. Transkids and the Rise of Social Media - Michelle Cretella[148]
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Make Media Rules:
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Healthy management, meaning a balanced and informed monitoring of screen time.
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Positive modeling: do what you want others to do.
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Meaningful screen use.
Meaningful screen use means co-viewing family programs, playing co-operative video games, and learning about the world's diversity. One hour of recreational screen time has been associated with lower depression risk compared to no screen time, but we still want kids playing more sports than doing screen time.
Parent involvement in body stimulation (sports, Tai Chi, dance, yoga, walking) needs to start early. Mostly, children need the stimulation of walking. Dr. Carla Hannaford, who developed The Brain Gym, says children learn through cross-lateral movement, where the right arm is in sync with the left leg. Cross-lateral movement is responsible for auditory development. The whole system is igniting all brain functions through balance and movement.[149] Children focusing on being unbalanced in their body makes it hard for them to learn because the body is busy dealing with the body imbalance. Hannaford calls this a survival state, which shuts critical thinking down. Children do not learn or remember as easily when their body is not balanced.
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Groups and sports are excellent ways to build resilience. From a Positive Psychology perspective, meaning consists of knowing your highest strengths and using them to belong to and serve something you believe is larger than the self. Teams do this. When strengths are the focus, rather than weaknesses, people will respond in healthy ways. It is through hard work that people can let go of insecurities. Identity is tied to knowing oneself and the strengths one possesses. Self-pity is always a case of mistaken identity.
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Erickson wrote that increasing technology, automation, and loss of purpose were the driving sources of anxiety; the lack of obstacles children faced in their development was a cause for anxiety and depression in later life.[150] When children lack obstacles, they lack resilience, and as a result of being treated like infants, they act like infants. We are not giving them enough responsibility, which encourages young people to think they are the center of the universe. We view people as fixed entities that are unchangeable, and we do not see behaviour as being on a continuum. Entitlement, even more so than in my generation, is allowing children to wreak havoc on themselves and each other.
Over the past 35 years in Canada, female participation in sports has declined. As girls reach adulthood, more stop playing sports, resulting in a sharper decline in girls’ participation rates during adolescence than boys. However, both males and females are participating in sport less than in the early 1990s.