It’s no secret that social media use has taken over society in recent years, and children, especially teenagers, are among those who have used it the most often.
A 2018 Pew Research survey found that 95% of all U.S. teenagers have access to social media, and 45% of these kids were online “amost constantly.”
It’s no secret that social media addiction is a major concern for millions of parents, which could be just part of the reason why one mother in Cass County, Minnesota decided to take matters into her own hands recently.
The woman, Lorna Klefsaas of Motley, Minnesota, said that she heard about a challenge involving the cutting off of social media and decided to propose it to her son, Sivert, who may have been on the verge of cultivating his own addiction according to the statistics.
Klefsaas proposed that she pay him $1,800 to stay off of social media for six years.
“I was already a little sensitive to social media since his siblings had struggled with it a bit,” Lorna said according to reports.
“I watched social media cause stress, anxiety and hurt feelings in my other kids and I loved the idea of coming up with a way to spare Sivert from that.”
Her son, age 12, immediately agreed to the proposal.
This past Saturday, Sivert turned 18 years old, and cashed in on his mom’s deal.
“When I was 12 I thought $1,800 was A LOT of money!!” Sivert reportedly said.
“I had big plans for what I was going to buy!”
According to the woman’s son, he only had a Snapchat account prior to the six year challenge, but deleted it after one day.
He said that it wasn’t too difficult to stay off of social media, and decided to finish the challenge even though his mother gave him the option to quit.
“There were definitely times where I wanted to crack,” Sivert said.
“When I met new people and the only contact information they offered was Snap, that was a little hard. And there were times I missed out on inside jokes or TikTok trends, but I found ways to be informed!
“My friends would eventually fill me in!”
Now a teenager, Sivert has Instagram and Snapchat accounts.
He said that he saw friends struggling with their addiction and learned quite a bit.
“I saw friends being consumed by social media and I didn’t want that to be me,” he continued. “I also learned that people can be really mean over social media. And I saw how damaging that was to people.
“I might have been sad about missing out on a few things, but I was happy to miss out on all of that drama.”
Sivert said he wants to use his earnings toward dormitory supplies for when he starts college, including a television.
“Social media is awesome but it’s not your whole life,” he added. “There are other more important things. You can step away for a little bit and be okay!
“You will find other ways to stay connected!”