Youth, Social Media, and How Instagram Values Teens at $270, with John Perritt and Erica Bechtel

We need to get serious about what social media is doing to teenagers without throwing out technology altogether. That's what this episode is about.

Right before American Thanksgiving, a redacted lawsuit between a coalition of 41 US states and Meta (Instagram) was made public. This lawsuit outlines exactly how Instagram has knowingly harmed teens and lied about it to the public. As msn.com put it, "Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta could protect teen girls but puts $270 profit from each of them first: suit."

In this episode, we talk with a veteran youth pastor John Perritt, who is the dad of a few teenagers himself as well as the Director of Resources at Reformed Youth Ministries. We are also joined by Erica Bechtel: mom of three, Instragram influencer (@doityourself_mom), and a volunteer at a local youth ministry.

Together, we aim to support teens and the supporters of teens in this special episode of What Would Jesus Tech.

John's book: Social Media Pressure: Finding Peace Alongside Jesus

Other links mentioned:

Digital Liturgies by Samuel James

Teaching kids how to code with Swift Playgrounds

Chris Martin: Instagram Addicted Your Teenager Because She's Worth $270 to Them

Jason Kint's 20 tweet summary here: X link.

The full 233 page lawsuit between the states and Meta: pdf link.

Please send us your ideas and feedback to the cohosts, Andrew Noble and Joel Jacob, at whatwouldjesustech@gmail.com. Recorded in Ontario, Canada. Original Music by Abigail Neale. To learn more about What Would Jesus Tech and to support the show visit whatwouldjesustech.com