Remembering what Luke was like, he was just this happy ball of energy. He’d run around, loved being outdoors, such a good kid. We always said he danced to the beat of his own drum. We were all very adventurous, and as parents we’re actually just two big kids, so we used to have a blast.
We could see the signs that his social media use was ramping up. He was only around 9 when we could feel him slowly start pulling away. He’d hide, disguise the apps he was using. You know, he was super tech savvy. Then he just wanted to sit on his phone all day. We tried taking it away, of course we did, but that turned into really intense withdrawal, like someone coming off drugs. That would leave him like a zombie, not quite a monster, but vacant.
We felt like we were in competition with social media, and we were losing. Social media is addictive, it gives you that dopamine hit. That’s how it’s designed, keeping you scrolling, keeping you engaged and entertained.
When we saw him scrolling it was like was trying to escape his life. Escape what happened to him. I remember the day I found out about what had happened. A stupid challenge on social media had led to Luke being attacked in the school bathrooms, and some inappropriate photos were shared on social media.
What we struggle to understand is how content like that is shared on social media without any consequences for those who post it. Like, how is that possible? How can a challenge like that be allowed to circulate? The pictures were posted on so many groups online that the platforms said it was impossible to locate and take them all down. It’s heartbreaking.
The attack had a massive impact on him, but slowly he is healing. It’s a long road to recovery but we’re hopeful for the future. We don’t feel like we’ve failed, we did everything we could. We’re good parents. But people are losing their lives, children are losing their lives to these social media challenges. Our children are puppets in these evil games, and platforms are doing nothing to stop them. We’re sharing our story to stop this ever happening again.