Video – Attorney Steven Gacovino Explains How Parents Could Minimize Social Media Youth Harm To Children

Ray Hrdlicka – Host – Attorneys.Media

Parents, looking at this video, if they say what can we do to minimize that damage, the exposure, maybe to what has already happened with our teenager, but we don’t want our adolescent to do it, what would you say to them?

Steven Gacovino – Social Media Youth Harm Mass Tort Attorney – Suffolk County, NY

It’s very difficult for me to substitute my advice or my recommendation in the place of a parent.

Ray Hrdlicka – Host – Attorneys.Media

I do see that, but I’m talking about in terms of what you have seen in the damages because they wouldn’t want that. Any reasonable parent would not want that.

Steven Gacovino – Social Media Youth Harm Mass Tort Attorney – Suffolk County, NY

By all means, if you could monitor the young person in your house, if you can monitor their online presence, if you could see their online presence, if you could limit their online presence, you’ve got to do it.

I think it’s imperative upon you and I’m not judging people that aren’t. This is a very difficult thing to control. Young people know more about how to operate these devices and how to access information than older people do, at least that’s what I find.

It’s not the easiest thing in the world to monitor, but looking for signs of isolation, looking for signs of sadness, and of course, a lot of this mirrors just what it is to be a teenager, but if you see something that feels extraordinarily sad or angry or negative or isolated, if you see those things, I think you have to do your best to address those concerns with your child and maybe if it means having some sort of health care provider, an expert, a therapist, a counselor, a psychiatrist, some sort of a mental health care professional, your trusted primary care physician, whoever it might be.

I think that can only help to – and again, this is a difficult thing for people to take on, and it’s difficult for me to substitute my judgment for anybody else’s, but what I would want to do, I would want to see to it that… let’s assess if something is going on with them.

Let’s find out. Are you anxious? Are you depressed? Are you eating properly? Are you taking care of yourself? Are you getting exposed to information that you shouldn’t be exposed to?

Kids aren’t always transparent with parents, I think that we know that, and then maybe getting them to a healthcare professional is probably, a mental healthcare professional that understands what teenagers are going through or what young people are going through. Getting them before them, I would imagine, is going to really be better for their health and better for their life.