Let’s begin by giving you some reasons why you should have parental controls turned on, particularly for your Netflix account. 

Now, we’ve talked for years about whether or not these video games, shoot ’em ups and all kinds of things are suitable for kids. Some of this really turns my stomach. One of my kids, who’s in his 20’s was playing this one video game, and I have to admit it was absolutely, horrific.  I could not believe it. They were torturing people. And it was a woman, and she was screaming, and when a woman screams it absolutely, just made all my skin crawl. I could not believe it. I told him that he should stop playing that. You know, he was completely desensitized to it. Oh, yeah, I’m just playing a game. 

Well, does that cause the kids to become desensitized to this type of violence? Does it cause them to go out and kill people? Well, yeah, I’m probably not right. 

Does it do other things to their minds?  Well, it’s evident that it does desensitize them, or they wouldn’t play these games. They wouldn’t be able to play these games. There’s no way.  I would never be able to play that video game. None whatsoever. 

So, we know it does something. What does it do? Man, we could go back and forth on that, like the psychologists and psychiatrists who look at it. Then there are the government investigators,  as though they can figure their way out of a  wet paper bag. 

But, anyway, here’s a study that is really, going to change your mind about teenagers and what you should let them watch at least view. 

Now, this is from Dr. Aman. If you are not familiar with his work, he’s out of New York City. He’s just amazing. He does a lot of work on brain development and how to help with brain injuries. So, he’s really into brains. 

He uses some special scanners, these pet scanners and things I don’t know how detailed you guys want to get. But check him out online. I think you’d love him, just amenclinics.com,  A M E N clinics.com. 

He has a great article that I reposted up on my website CraigPeterson.com It’s talking about the media and what tweens and teens are watching.  He’s asking, does it affect their mood and their mental health? 

Well, I don’t know if you’ve seen this Netflix show, I saw a little promo boy it is nothing I wanted to watch. Okay, bottom line. I guess that’s not a surprise. I’m getting old, right? I don’t care about some of this stuff anymore. 

However,  I really care about this! 

There’s a critically acclaimed show that’s on Netflix right now called “13. Reasons Why”.  It is in its third season. Well, the month following the release of “13 Reasons Why” on Netflix, the suicide rate among Americans aged 10 to 17. jumped by almost 30%. 

Now you say okay, Craig how can you draw that conclusion?  Is it a correlation? I don’t know, come on. Come on, Craig 

Well, this is absolutely, fascinating.  “13 Reasons Why” is a story of a teenage girl who took her own life, and left behind 13 audio cassettes for her friends that unravel the reasons why she killed herself. 

Now there’s a study that was funded by the National Institute of Mental Health, and it appeared in the Journal of the American Academy of Child adolescent psychiatry. This study analyzed five years of suicide rates among people between the ages of 10 to 64.

There were no changes in the suicide rates for adults in the month after the show’s release. And you know, that kind of makes sense. I know, if I had a troubled teen, I might want to watch something like this series, to try and figure it out.  So, what are they thinking?  What are they doing? 

So, I can look for the signs and symptoms that might be present in my kids? Does that make sense to you? 

Now, bottom line, pretty simple? Well, although there was no change in the suicide rate for the adults, they found that the rate among those under eighteen rose dramatically. 

Now, this is something that kind of surprised me. But here’s the next point. It rose most dramatically amongst boys. 

Remember these are some tips from Dr. Amen. Young brains are still under construction. Brains develop until your mid-20s with girls brains, typically developing faster than the boys.  The area of interest is the prefrontal cortex. It is this area that has to do with the decision-making and the future consequences of your decisions. That area of your brain is the last area to mature at about age 25. 

Some people say, guys, it’s really, not done until they’re 30. I’ve seen those opinions before. This area is involved with judgment, planning, forethought, and impulse control. So, you can understand why teens and especially male teens are more likely to make rash decisions. Look at car insurance and how much they charge. I’m boy has to pay a lot more until they’re about 25 than a girl does. Well, suicide is a growing problem in our society. Looking at the stats, the overall rate of suicides increase by 33% in the last 20 years. It’s the second leading cause of death amongst people ages 10 to 34. And teams today are more likely to have suicidal thoughts or suffer from depression than millennials were at the same age. So let’s talk about what to do here. Listen, this is really, really, important. I put this up on my website, CraigPeterson.com. 

Number one, monitor their media consumption. We need to understand what our kids and teens are watching on TV, what they’re watching online, what they’re participating in online, including social media because that can play a vital role in the development of their brains. 

So, set limits on what they can watch when they can view it use parental controls, by all means, talk to your kids about what they’re watching. 

Number two, do not let adolescence smoke marijuana. There was a time when I wouldn’t have had to say that at all because you know that the wacky tabakki causes problems even in adult brains, mainly when consumed over a long term.  Research is showing now that using cannabis as an adolescent raises the risk of depression and increases your suicidal thoughts and suicide attempts when you become a young adult, so don’t let them smoke marijuana. 

Make sure that they get good sleep at night. And man it’s crazy how little sleep some of them get you might remember being that age. 

Protect their brain from head injuries and concussions. Right. If you’ve got a kid that plays soccer, do not let them hit the soccer balls with their heads. Think of your brain being, basically warm butter. That’s about the right consistency inside a hard container with very sharp edges pointing inward. And that why I tell you,  you don’t want them hitting the ball with their heads. 

Seek help for mental health issues right away. If they’ve got signs and symptoms of depression, anxiety, ADD/ADHD, it’s critical to seek advice for those issues. 

So, if you have a teen that might have some of these symptoms, by all means, reach out to a doctor find out what you can do. 

And if you want to get more advanced health check out Dr. Amen’s clinic down in New York City. He has brain scans, and he can look for physical damage, and then help you with a regimen that will compensate for that damage because once the brains damaged, it’s damaged. Head blows add up. Brain injuries are cumulative. It’s not as though they all just heal themselves and go away. 

If you’ve had a concussion, you have a problem in your brain for the rest of your life. 

Hopefully, it’s not a bad one. Okay.