I loved this. As a therapist that worked hard to be licensed and stay licensed, I do struggle with some content that is out there that is sold as more or less therapy. Let’s use the lettuce farmer- if I showed up at the farmers market to sell my lettuce without ensuring that I used correct practices to grow it, pick it, and haul it to the market, and I am just willy nilly selling it, I’d understand why other lettuce farmers might be upset. They worked hard to ensure they used the best practice standards to get it to the market while I’m just over here making cash without having done the hard work of ensuring what I’m selling is safe to consumers. I’m not sure if that is what you were necessarily getting at with this post, but it triggered this thought. It’s something I think of often with people selling courses that are mental health focused and not necessarily using evidence based practices. If they’re clear that they’re using what works for them then …maybe okay. But it is still tricky in my book.
Yes, I think that this is what I find helpful with this analogy--there will be different practices, knowledge, experience and ultimately quality depending on where you seek content. By taking the step back, it allows you to evaluate more objectively whether this is the "lettuce" you want to purchase.
This is such a great reframe. I teach a course to high schoolers and young adults and ask them all the time what the value exchange is between them and the social media platforms and often they have no idea. They just think it's a fun place to be--without understanding that at the heart of it all is a business. Not just the platform itself, but all the players too.
I really appreciate the discussion of influencers and therapy overlap, which is something I haven't thought much about before. I definitely follow social media accounts that dip their toes in this overlap zone.
What would be some of your best practices for parenting advice content? I make little personal rules for my content consumption to weed things out, but I don't have any personal rules for parenting content. (An example of a personal rule is that I don't listen to any podcasts about AI that don't include a woman host or panelist.)
Yes, I think we need to have a lot more nuanced discussion about parenting content and I will be diving in for future pieces. I have been unsatisfied with a lot the discussion I see around parenting content because it actually has a huge range--from accounts with arts and crafts projects to very specific behavioral strategies or health information. And they get all lumped together. I don't think it's just making sure someone has credentials, which is a commonly given piece of advice. Sometimes they do have credentials and the advice is questionable and sometimes they don't have credentials but the content has value in other ways.
I think one helpful rule is to be clear on what you are seeking from the content and that awareness can guide you. Is it to laugh? for inspiration? for guidance? is to learn about another's experience? That can help navigate the boundaries, for instance for specific guidance you may want to know that person has specific training in that area. In learning about someone else's experience, there is value too but you can also hold that is one person's experience and may not be able to generalized.
Thank you. Yes, the more (in my opinion) is one of the contributing factors to parental stress. We really need to tools to know when and where to stop "seeking" information and where to do less.
I loved this. As a therapist that worked hard to be licensed and stay licensed, I do struggle with some content that is out there that is sold as more or less therapy. Let’s use the lettuce farmer- if I showed up at the farmers market to sell my lettuce without ensuring that I used correct practices to grow it, pick it, and haul it to the market, and I am just willy nilly selling it, I’d understand why other lettuce farmers might be upset. They worked hard to ensure they used the best practice standards to get it to the market while I’m just over here making cash without having done the hard work of ensuring what I’m selling is safe to consumers. I’m not sure if that is what you were necessarily getting at with this post, but it triggered this thought. It’s something I think of often with people selling courses that are mental health focused and not necessarily using evidence based practices. If they’re clear that they’re using what works for them then …maybe okay. But it is still tricky in my book.
Yes, I think that this is what I find helpful with this analogy--there will be different practices, knowledge, experience and ultimately quality depending on where you seek content. By taking the step back, it allows you to evaluate more objectively whether this is the "lettuce" you want to purchase.
Yes, it is really a mess. The lines are so blurry and it's really hard for people to question the sources.
This is such a great reframe. I teach a course to high schoolers and young adults and ask them all the time what the value exchange is between them and the social media platforms and often they have no idea. They just think it's a fun place to be--without understanding that at the heart of it all is a business. Not just the platform itself, but all the players too.
Yes, I think it is helpful to remember. It is our modern phonebook (not that any young people would know what that is).
I really appreciate the discussion of influencers and therapy overlap, which is something I haven't thought much about before. I definitely follow social media accounts that dip their toes in this overlap zone.
What would be some of your best practices for parenting advice content? I make little personal rules for my content consumption to weed things out, but I don't have any personal rules for parenting content. (An example of a personal rule is that I don't listen to any podcasts about AI that don't include a woman host or panelist.)
Yes, I think we need to have a lot more nuanced discussion about parenting content and I will be diving in for future pieces. I have been unsatisfied with a lot the discussion I see around parenting content because it actually has a huge range--from accounts with arts and crafts projects to very specific behavioral strategies or health information. And they get all lumped together. I don't think it's just making sure someone has credentials, which is a commonly given piece of advice. Sometimes they do have credentials and the advice is questionable and sometimes they don't have credentials but the content has value in other ways.
I think one helpful rule is to be clear on what you are seeking from the content and that awareness can guide you. Is it to laugh? for inspiration? for guidance? is to learn about another's experience? That can help navigate the boundaries, for instance for specific guidance you may want to know that person has specific training in that area. In learning about someone else's experience, there is value too but you can also hold that is one person's experience and may not be able to generalized.
Thank you. Yes, the more (in my opinion) is one of the contributing factors to parental stress. We really need to tools to know when and where to stop "seeking" information and where to do less.
Yes, I also agree that if I spend too much time on here I end up not knowing what is mine and what I read somewhere on the internet!
I was really proud of that :)