Empowering children in the age of social media: Parents must 'be involved in their kids lives'

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00:00We live in a world that's more and more connected than ever, thanks to the internet and social

00:04media, but these things that help us connect can also turn into a place of hurt and horror

00:10for some. Children and young people are especially at risk. The Archwell Foundation, launched

00:14by Prince Harry and his wife Meghan, are behind a special project to try to stop online bullying.

00:20Just look at the hashtag, no child lost to social media. This will give you more if you

00:23need help or information. We'll be speaking with a parent whose daughter took her own

00:27life. She blames it on social media, and she started a legal case against the social

00:31media giant, Meta, owner of Facebook and Instagram. Well, let's talk about Meta for a little now.

00:37Facing many cases at this present moment, and on another one of those, a Meta spokesperson

00:42said, the company has fixed many of the problems identified in one month alone. Meta said it

00:47disabled more than half a million accounts for violating child safety policies. Let's

00:54bring in Tami Rodriguez from the Parents Network. Tami, thank you for being with us.

00:59This is a difficult interview for you to do, I know, because of what happened to your daughter.

01:04Can we start by perhaps you introducing her to us? Tell us her name, tell us what she

01:08was like. Of course. My daughter Selina, she was a bright

01:15ray of sunshine. Anybody that knew her, that's what they think of when they think of her.

01:20From when she was little, right on until the end, she was the one who always stuck

01:27up for the underdog. She always wanted to be the one helping people. And then she met

01:34social media. Tami, as you're talking to us, we're showing

01:37images of Selina. She looks like a beautiful little girl. It's incredibly sad what has

01:41happened. When did you notice the change in her?

01:45Well, she was just about eight years old when I had gotten her the phone. In the beginning,

01:52it was just to go on YouTube Kids or some of the other games, and things were fine.

01:58It was about a year, a year and a half into it when she found the social media apps and

02:05she started going on them. I had parental controls in place, I would check the phone,

02:13and they all start to work together. The kids all teach each other how to hide things, how

02:19to hide apps inside of apps, or just how to hide anything that they know they shouldn't

02:27be doing. I hear where you're coming from. I've got

02:30children myself, and I know a little bit about having to try to protect them from these kinds

02:34of things. What you've been through is far more extreme than anything I've ever experienced,

02:39and I can't imagine how you feel right now, how you feel about what has happened.

02:43I imagine there's a lot of anger there. Do you ever blame yourself?

02:47I do. At times I blame myself for buying her a phone so young, but just so many kids her age

02:55at that time, that's what was happening. We actually did start with a tablet. I should

03:00say that. I apologize. Then it went up to the iPhone and went on from there.

03:07What kind of things were happening to Selena?

03:13As her addiction got worse, which at the time I didn't realize was an addiction,

03:19her mood changes were terrible. She became very aggressive. She would attack myself and my

03:25daughter, my older daughter, physically. The words that she would use, it just changed her into an

03:32entirely different child than who she was.

03:36Was this a question of bullying or a question of

03:39behavior from her friends? What was the actual story behind that?

03:43So I, at the time, believed that it was only bullying from kids that she knew, maybe some

03:49other people online. But it was after the fact was when we found out that she was being exploited

03:55online, and I had no idea.

03:58This is incredibly sad, tragic, what you're telling us, Tammy, and it's clearly important

04:03for other parents to get help. I'm wondering at this stage, what META has said to you,

04:08because you've brought a legal case against META to press forward to try to make sure no other

04:12child suffers what your daughter went through. What has META said to you?

04:19Our family is actually the first family that filed, one of the first families that filed in the U.S.

04:24And I've heard nothing from META myself. I was there in Washington for the Congressional hearing

04:30when the CEOs were there, and Mark Zuckerberg gave, as I want to say, a apology.

04:40But that wasn't an apology. It was just something for him to try and feel a little better that day.

04:47Your daughter, Selena, as we saw the image of a very small, bright, beautiful,

04:52you described as a ray of sunshine, led into this horrible spiral through social media,

04:59the use of social media, as you've just described, a horrible situation.

05:03What's your advice to parents who may be seeing the same signs of things that you saw?

05:08What would you advise those parents to do? Tammy?

05:11Well, first off, people need to understand that it can be their child.

05:16So many people are very quick to say, not my child, not my daughter,

05:21to say, not my child, or my child is too smart to do that.

05:25Well, my child was very smart also, and she still fell into that trap.

05:31People really need to pay attention to what their kids are doing.

05:35They really need to be involved in their kids' lives in general,

05:38not just when it comes to social media or the phones.

05:42Hear what you're saying, Tammy. Thank you so much for sharing this

05:45terrible experience that you've had and you are still living with us.

05:49You can hear the pain in your voice and see it etched across your face,

05:52but I hope in some way the work you're doing now will begin to give you some kind of

05:57perspective on what has happened and help you to build some kind of legacy

06:01out of the loss that you have suffered.

06:03Thank you for joining us here, Tammy Rodriguez from the Parents Network.

06:06Thank you once again.

06:07Very difficult destiny to give us, but we do appreciate it,

06:10and I'm sure this will help parents maybe who are watching this who have concerns.

06:14Tammy, thank you once again.

06:16Thank you very much.

06:20That's what we're here for.

06:21It's a group of incredible parents that are just here to support each other.

06:27Tammy, thank you.

06:27I will give the address out now before we leave this bulletin.

06:31Tammy Rodriguez, thank you very much indeed.

06:33So if you or a loved one, a child is affected by the issues that we've been discussing here,

06:38you can find advice and support, as Tammy was just saying,

06:42on archwell.org forward slash the parents network forward slash forward slash.

06:47We've got that on the screen for you just there.

06:49I'll talk a little bit longer whilst you maybe note that down.

06:53archwell.org slash the parents network slash.

06:57Take that, Google that, put it into the search engine.

06:59You'll find the help that you need, we hope.

07:03Let's hope that some progress is made towards making the online world,

07:07the virtual world, a safer place for everybody concerned.

07:10You're watching France 24.

07:11Discover us.

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