Documentary
70 minutes / 2018
RATING: 8/10
Connect offers “real help for parenting kids in a social media world” and the host, Kirk Cameron, starts things off by scaring parents with the story of a boy who was Internet-stalked by a “grown adult man.” The dad intervened in time… but it was a close thing. I watched this with 30-or-so other parents and this opener certainly grabbed our attention.
But now, what can we do to protect our kids?
Cameron makes clear, it isn’t just the creeps that we need to watch out for. We need to teach our children to see through a number of lies that social media fosters, including: “I deserve to be happy all the time” and “I am the center of the universe.” Our children need to know God is the center of the universe, and instant gratification is not only not a right, but not even healthy.
More important: parents need to correct their own addiction to social media, and then get actively involved in their children’s lives. We are all busy, but we cannot be, as one of the experts put it, “mentally-absent parents.”
There was a fantastic discussion starter for all the parents and teens who attended our viewing.
One caution: there is some topic matter – about pornography addiction and suicide – that is not appropriate for the very young.
It can be rented via online streaming, or purchased via DVD here. Americans with Amazon Prime can watch it here.
