Originally Posted by ISOHumility
But I know I shouldn't have looked at his private messages. I'm not quite at that level of detachment, unfortunately. But something changed in me when he went to rehab. I learned that he is his own person, and his life is his to live. I really, relly got that he was a separate person, and that I could no longer protect him.
What I'm going to say is not going to be popular. I *do* think you should have looked at his messages, because he has a history of addiction. I do think he is his own person, but at 15 it is not completely "his life to live".
He is still a child. This situation is not the same as detaching from an adult who is hell bent on killing themselves.
Originally Posted by anvilhead
what would ya do as a parent BEFORE the age of social media? before FB and tweets and texts and cell phones and every other method of putting one's life on the internet for all to see? what if....all you could do was.....watch his actions? observe? what would you do then?
I agree that before social media parents had to approach things differently, but then so did kids. Passing notes, getting someone on their landline, payphone, etc all took time. Before this technological age, parents had some time to intervene. Now a drug deal can happen instantaneously through text. I saw porn as a kid, but only because a neighborhood kid discovered his dad's stash. Today any child any age can access porn at their fingertips. Indeed, things are different all the way around.