Schools, Youth and Violence: Where Do We Go From Here?
The Media
News media and social media outlets have a part in combating violence among school-aged children, according to experts like Adam Lankford, associate professor with the University of Alabama's Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice.
Lankford believes that news media should refrain from serving as an advertiser for mass shooters, having championed an open letter to news stations to taper the extent to which they cover shooters.
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"Go ahead and cover these incidents in as much detail as necessary. But don't publish the photos and don't publish the names. In the same way, if there is a sexual assault victim, you would not publish her name," explained Lankford when detailing the letter.
"It is a different scenario but in both cases you would be remitting what you publish for public health reasons. The photo itself is not critical information for the public to have."
Lankford added that "no one looks at a photo of a mass shooter and thinks, 'Aha! Now I understand how to prevent these attacks more effectively.' Publishing photos is only pandering to curiosity, which is actually something that the Society of Professional Journalists counsels the media not to do."
Breuner of the American Academy of Pediatrics sees a need for parental regulation of their children's social media accounts.
"It is imperative for parents to get on top of social media as well and really restrict access to no more than an hour-and-a-half to two hours per day," advised Breuner.
"Turn the phones in. Everybody should have their phones off by no later than 10 p.m. at night and they should all be turned into the parents. Parents should have theirs off too."
She noted the importance of parents being cognizant of their children's time on social media, which can be an indicator of mental health issues.
"I am not saying that parents should stalk their kids on Facebook, Snapchat or Instagram but be aware that if kids are spending a lot of time looking at other people's things, there is a possibility that they are getting depressed and they should get off and be on a sports team or a debate team or a cooking class. It doesn't have to be sports but something else besides staring at their screen," Breuner added.
