Talking to kids about their social media use in wake of Langley teen's overdose death

A video that emerged online late last week showing Langley teenCarson Crimeni, 14, dying of an apparent overdose is raising concerns about the ways in which social media is desensitizing young people to extreme content.

Merlyn Horton, the CEO of SafeOnline Education, says it's important parents stay on top of their child's social media useby incorporating online management techniques and strategies into their daily lives and educating their children.

"People need to be aware of the issuein order to change," she said.

Hortonsays the online conversationhas shifted over the years. In the early 2000s, adults were advising kids tosteer clear of predators on the internet. Now, she says, it's important to talk to kids and be aware about how they're conducting themselves online.

To do that, Horton suggests turning on monitoring software on phonesand having weekly conversations with kids about how much time they're spending online and where they're spending it.

She saysit's important to ask direct questions about over-consumption: "How much time did you spend on YouTube this week?" And to openthe conversation with questions like: "Did you see anything that scared you?"

She saysparents can enforce the amount of time their kids spendonline.

"That could mean putting a timer on the family router,so the whole network goes down for everybody at 9 p.m.," she said.

Ultimately, she says how parents use social media has the biggestimpact on their children's use.

"What you're doing with your device, your child is going to do.If parents are over consuming, your child will too," she said.

There should be conscious times without devices, according to Horton: riding in the car, family vacationsand meal times can bephone-free.

Trolling culture

The video of Crimeni's final hours posted online show people laughing in the background. His family believes Crimeni was given drugsand, later, bystanders filmed his overdose without calling for help.

A photo posted on social media even included the caption: "Carson almost died LOL."

The teen's grandfather, Darrel Crimeni, said, although he hopes people can learn an important lesson about intervening when someone is in distress, he cannot make sense of the traumatic event.

"I don't even know how a normal human being can even do something like that ... they killed him for entertainment," he said.

Across the board, Hortonis noticing kidsas young as third gradersputting everything out there: the good, the badand the ugly.

"[They] get joy out of the distress of others," she said.

Vancouver caller Stephen Migicovsky told Belle Puri, the guest host of CBC'sB.C. Today,it's time to re-evaluate how we respond to othersin real life versus online.

"If there's an emergency ... you have to save the person's life," he said.

Meaningful consumption

Horton believes that being a bystander and recording a traumatic event is a symptom of not being present.

"'I share, therefore I am,'is one of the comments I've heard before," she said.

Horton believeskids should be more mindful of the content they're consuming.

"We need to make sure that [social media] is contributing meaningfully to our lives," she said."We're documenting our lives rather than living them."