Talking To Your Young Adults About the Ukraine Invasion

Help them get good information—and combat disinformation

The main source of news for Gen Z is not CNN, Fox News or The New York Times: It’s TikTok. It is Instagram Reels and YouTube shorts. Remember: The Ukrainian men and women on the front lines are posting TikToks too. We may not be aware of it, but many of our kids are being flooded by videos of this conflict.

The news:

@dylanpage.ning Russia & Ukraine Part 1- Ongoing Series #fyp #russia #ukraine #nato #putin ♬ original sound – Dylan Page

The heart-wrenching:

@lukalp1 #fyp #ukraine #georgia #���� ♬ original sound – Luka Lapiashvili

And the terrifying perspectives on the ground, such as this from Day 1:

@bennyvalentinen17 Ukraine bombing no joke! #fyp #news #action #war #ukraine #russia #shooting������ ♬ original sound – bennyvalentineN17

I have heard multiple young adults say they have no idea how to process it all—or even know what is true and what is not. (As one young commenter put it, “History class in 2050 will be analyzing TikToks.”)

In a time like this, disinformation is a real concern—not just for us but for our kids. Most social media—especially TikTok—delivers more of what you watch so (for example) those who watch Russian disinformation will see more of it. Help your kids be discerning about what they watch and listen to, and how to tell if something is misinformation. (For example, “Well, that video from that one source says this is just a peacekeeping effort. But we’ve seen the civilian areas be bombed, right? So maybe we shouldn’t watch videos from that source again.”)

If you have a college student or young twentysomething, you may have never before thought to share with them how to log in to your family’s subscription to the Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, or whatever news source you trust. They may welcome the ability to get good news from trusted sources.

And in turn—ask your kids what they are seeing. What is being delivered to their screens.

As my daughter put it, “There’s so much; we honestly don’t know how to respond. But when a parent asks their kid to send what the kids are watching, it makes them feel like they are listening. That they care about what they are seeing. Sharing TikTok videos is like my generation’s love language. So it will matter if you say, ‘Send me videos, I’m curious to see what the TikTok side of the news is.’”