Alwyn Moran

Yeah, that's really worrying, actually, because that age group are particularly vulnerable in terms of what's happening in their brain at that time.

So that kind of tween to teen is another growth spurt, actually, in the brain where kids become wired to kind of seek and validate peer approval much more than parental approval.

So it makes their peer to peer experiences much more of an emphasis in their life than, say, you know, kind of like younger or even older kind of kids.

The problem with that is that

I suppose their social brain is super hypersensitive to that peer acceptance.

They're, as I said, neurobiologically wired to feel this, but they also feel it's intensely rewarding to be part of a group.

And exclusion, as Mick was saying there, it feels like physical pain for them.

So that's how the coercion works, really.

you know, it's through the terror of losing their peer status.

But their brain just isn't wired to be able to make a rational thought.

So that prefrontal cortex part of our brain, which actually doesn't mature until about 23 to 25 years of age, that is, you know, involved in impulse control and risk assessment and predictability, which is really important.

There are three key things that, you know,

in order for them to be able to understand the harm that either is being caused to them or that they are causing, the brain isn't really wired to be able to do that yet.

Absolutely, 100%, you know, and I've said this for a long, long time, you know, kind of if we need to pull our kids out of the digital world and we need to pull them back into the real world, you know, and as Mick again said there, you know, it's vulnerable children that they're preying on and these kids seek

communities where they can feel they can share their pain, they can share their experiences.

But actually, this is where these people are hanging out to recruit them and then pass on, you know, they manipulate and use the painful experiences that they've had so far.

So really, parents need to be very aware that

You know, listen to your child.

What are they talking about?

Are they talking about feeling bullied in school?