I’m A Middle Schooler. Here’s The Biggest Threat To My Generation.

Conservatives love to talk about what’s wrong with my generation: why college kids are marching in support of terrorists, why they have so many genders, and why so many of them are impossibly woke. I’m sure there are plenty of reasons. But as a 13-year-old myself, I’m here to tell you that social media is the problem.

Social media platforms have always had some sway over what adults think politically, but now that kids are getting on them at younger and younger ages, kids are getting radicalized sooner.

We can spend hours arguing about whether kids should be on social media, but the reality is that most of them already are — and have been for some time. The result is that most people in my middle school can’t tell you anything about President Donald Trump or Republicans other than the fact that they’re supposedly evil.

Of course, my classmates have never read articles about this; they just watch short videos on various social media platforms and assume everything they hear is true. These videos twist words, tell lies, and change the narrative because it’s progressives telling the stories, and conservative videos aren’t on the algorithm.

The day after Charlie Kirk was shot, almost all of my grade had watched his murder on video multiple times. It was all anyone was talking about. But instead of making everyone feel sick, like it should have, it simply turned into a meme. Kids kept singing the viral Charlie Kirk song, not because they were honoring him but because they saw it online and thought it was funny. I asked some of my friends if they knew what Charlie stood for, and I wasn’t surprised that they had no idea. They probably still don’t know today.

Social media had not given them Charlie’s whole story, only the end. Watching social media turn his death into a meme shows how addictive social media is, and how thoroughly it brainwashes young minds.

It also shows that conservatives aren’t trying to reach kids my age. The internet is full of left-wing ideas, so it is not surprising that so many kids are growing up to have extreme views. Conservative adults worry that college kids are being brainwashed, but by the time these kids reach college, it may already be too late. When they get on social media at younger ages, they also get brainwashed earlier.

Middle schoolers today are already being propagandized from every angle: We go to school, where hyper-partisan teachers tell us we live on stolen land, and then we come home and watch videos about how terrible and evil conservatives are. Right now it’s college kids who are marching in the streets, but in the years to come, it will be my generation, and then the kids behind me who are barely in middle school.

We see a rainbow and think of Pride, and we see coed bathrooms and think it’s normal because conservatives aren’t making online content aimed at kids. People my age don’t see the other side, and they don’t have conservative voices to inspire them. Conservatives like to talk about the future, but it’s time they started reaching out to the kids who will be that future before it is too late. I wish I could say that rational thinking as we get older is enough to win over my generation, but the reality is the battle is already being fought, one swipe at a time. And right now, conservatives are losing.

But all hope is not lost. I have a front-row seat to what social media is doing to your kids, and it’s time for you to take a stand and keep them off social media platforms. They may push back, but I’m proof that they can live a completely normal and happy middle school life without it — or even a phone!

We should be learning our values from our family, our history, and our pastors, not letting influencers tell us how to live our lives and view our country. If your kids don’t have social media, keep it that way. If they’re already doomscrolling, get them to stop before it’s too late. And if you’re my age and happen to be reading this: I hope you put down your phone, go touch grass, and realize that America’s grass will always be greener.

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A.H. Bell is a middle school student living a perfectly normal, happy life despite not having a cell phone.

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