Discussion Thread: Moral Development in a Technological Age
Adolescents often have access to the world tucked in their pockets. Given the temptations of an often private digital world, parents are tasked with how they might employ healthy boundaries.
Review the given scenario below. Respond to all prompts below using support from the text, Bible, and any other pertinent, peer-reviewed source you deem applicable.
Scenario:
Olivia was given a cell phone by her parents on her 13th birthday. Her parents set up parental monitoring and discussed rules with Olivia including no phone in her room after 9pm, contacts would be preapproved by parents, and no social media at this time.
Within a few weeks, Olivia was asking her parents several times a day to join a specific social media platform after coaxing by her friends. Her parents kept saying no.
One evening, while her parents slept, Olivia began using a phone her friend let her borrow with the social media app. She spent the next several hours on the app beginning on her friends’ pages and soon going to strangers’ pages.
The next day, her parents noticed how tired she seemed. She told them she could not sleep. She continued to borrow her friend’s phone watching videos of older individuals often eliciting sexual attention. One evening, her mother walked in to check on Olivia, finding her on the phone. Olivia responded initially with anger after her mother took the phone away. She became argumentative when her mother attempted to talk, then refused to talk anymore about the situation and cried herself to sleep.
Apply textbook information to the situation giving possible reasons for Olivia’s choices.
- What does the textbook say concerning moral reasoning and view of self at this age?
- What would be the best next steps/course of action for Olivia’s parents? For Olivia?
- What Biblical applications and methods of healthy communication can help Olivia and her parents find common ground?
- What supports/interventions could be beneficial for Olivia and her parents?
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