“I wish my parents had put limits on my phone,” Peer Support Member Clay Peckham (‘26) admitted at the parent meeting focused on phones and social media hosted by Director of Counseling Megan Broderick and School Counselor Lauren Gray on November 5.
Clay continued, “We had a great turnout tonight. Seeing how parents care so much about learning about the dangers of social media from the speaker and the student panel was awesome…Parents genuinely care. We are fifteen minutes over [the meeting time], and parents are still asking questions.”
Parents eagerly sat in the MDR, ready to listen to the talk titled “Social Media: Supporting Mental Wellness in a Digital World.” Ms. Broderick, Ms. Gray, and guest speaker and licensed therapist Kelly McCullough hosted this event, open to all Bishop’s parents.
This meeting focused on educating parents about social media and its impact on their children’s mental health.
Every month, Ms. Broderick and Ms. Gray host meetings for Bishop’s parents to learn alongside their children, which they call the “Parent Education Series.” Once a year, they bring in a panel of Peer Support Members for at least one event so that parents can hear a teenager’s perspective. For this event, Clay Peckham (‘26), Chloe Chereque (‘26), Ella Kaminsky (‘26), Gabby Gallus (‘26), James O’Brien (‘26), and I were the Peer Support members.
In addition to Peer Support, guest speaker Ms. McCullough was invited to present a slideshow to the parents about social media and mental health. Primarily working with teenagers, she has a unique perspective on the connection between teenagers and the booming presence of social media in our everyday lives.
In the slideshow, Ms. McCullough examined the benefits and risks of social media and provided suggestions for parents to implement for their children.
Benefits include connection, community, scouting for college and club sports, and entertainment.
Ms. McCullough transitioned to the false reality of social media, which leads to worsened anxiety, depression, body image issues, loneliness, and self-esteem issues.
One parent in the crowd mentioned that their child begged them for social media because they felt excluded from the online presence that “everyone else had.” In this way, not having social media can cause exclusion in children’s lives.
The greatest danger of social media, according to Ms. McCullough, is all the things people could be doing instead. The time wasted is absurd, she expressed.
Given the dangers of social media, what can parents do about it? Ms. McCullough had three tips.
The first is enforcing time limits. A three-hour maximum time limit on social media gives children and teens more time to do other things.
The second tip is encouraging face-to-face connections. This includes enrolling children in sports, having them join clubs, and allowing them to hang out with friends. James said that he is rarely on his phone at school, which has allowed him to talk to many people and live in the moment.
The third tip is that parents should model healthy boundaries with social media and their own phones for their children. If children are expected to act in a certain way, parents should model that behavior.
Ms. McCollough explained that the best way to navigate social media is through a problem-solving lens. Additionally, she told parents to ask more questions. “Open ears are better talkers,” Ms. McCollough said. Draw on children’s experiences and try to listen to and understand them.
Ms. Broderick explained that the best way to deal with complex situations, such as those involving social media, is always about effective communication and open dialogue. And in even more sensitive situations like cyberbullying and sextortion, students need to have people and adults in their lives to turn to, whether that be a parent or another adult in their life.
Even after the parent talk ended, parents lingered for 15 minutes, asking Peer Support questions about their first-hand experience of growing up in a digital age.
This event was one of many where eager parents strive to learn alongside their children.
