Student Wellbeing

Helping your teen cope with bad world news

When bad news breaks, it can be hard to avoid being affected. It's all over TV, and everyone discusses it on social media. We've put together some tips on how you can help your teen healthily learn about current affairs and what you can do if lousy world news is getting them down.

Your teen likely spends a lot of time online, as their schooling relies on the internet, and much of their social life also happens online. It's, therefore, common for them to be regularly exposed to news about natural disasters, pandemics, terrorism, war, deaths, and other distressing events when simply scrolling through their social media apps.

Combine this with adolescence's regular ups and downs; your teen might feel like it's too much.

Switch off together

Ask them whether they want to take a break from the news. They could listen to some music or do some of their usual hobbies or self-care activities.

You could also offer to take a break with them: walk, play a game or prepare a meal together.

In the long term, you and your family could agree on some ground rules around the news. For example:

• Only check the news at one or two set times per day
• No news or social media during family times, such as at the dinner table
• Make sure that everyone spends at least 15 minutes a day on self-care or an activity they enjoy

Discuss world news together

Being involved in discussions and debates about current events and news stories can benefit your teen. By discussing the news with them, you'll encourage them to take an interest in their community, increase their knowledge of topical issues, and think critically about what's going on.

Your teen will gain different perspectives and learn to develop their own ways of seeing things. Learning about bad world news can be an opportunity for parents to discuss with teens what a 'better' world might look like and how it could be achieved. Talking about events can also help them process what's happening.

Research the topic together

Researching the topic with your teens can assist them in finding the facts. Your teen has likely seen snippets of the story here and there on social media. The ultimate goal is to put what they've seen into perspective with objective facts.

While doing this, you can also discuss how the media and social media are often biased and why it's important to get news from trusted sources.

Help your teen accept their level of control

There are usually things, big and small, that a person can do to help a situation. Despite this, one person can rarely stop things from happening on their own. Understanding their influence over something is essential in reducing the stress your teen might feel when hearing bad news.

This is not to say that they shouldn't try helping; taking positive steps to help people and the community around them will improve their well-being. However, we all must understand how to contribute to a cause and learn to accept our limits.

Using these tips, you can help your teen develop the skills to cope with bad world news. They'll be building their resilience as a whole and be better equipped to deal with whatever comes their way.

An abridged version of the article:

https://parents.au.reachout.com

St John's Counselling Team