At its core, social media is about advertising, but not just in terms of the products. Users are advertising themselves, making themselves look special and happy, no matter how many filters (滤镜) it takes. This can actually be damaging, especially to younger people. Because they traditionally look to their peers (同龄人) to help them determine what’s normal and who they should desire to be, and they particularly fear the social exclusion that comes from not fitting in with their peer group’s expectations.

With social media, their peers appear light years ahead in terms of wealth, beauty, and access to the kind of overall resources most of us can only dream of. The problem is that most of them achieved their fabulousness (难以置信的美好) through pure luck.

That’s why the core of our advice, for both adults and kids, begins with learning to accept what you can and can’t control, especially during those times when making things better isn’t really possible. And the one thing you can control when life sucks (令人不愉快) is knowing your standards for being a good person and living up to those standards regardless of how you feel or look or what other people think.

Being a good person isn’t about being perfect or ultra-unselfish; you don’t need to work in a soup kitchen or donate a kidney in order to qualify. In part, that’s because helping others must always come second to doing the smaller things required every day to take care of your own responsibilities and live up to your own values.

After explaining these ideas to their kids, parents can ask them to think about what they can and can’t control given how often life is just plain unfair. They can also ask their kids to think about the qualities they admire in people they believe to be good. This way, parents aren’t lecturing their kids about the importance of real values but encouraging them to make up their own minds about the values they find important. After all, people of any age are much more likely to make smart decisions if they’re asked to think through issues carefully and determine the right thing on their own, rather than being pushed in that direction.

【小题1】Why are kids more likely to be harmed by social media according to paragraph 1?

A．They lack self-discipline.

B．They cannot distinguish good from bad.

C．They often have unhealthy online habits.

D．They tend to compare themselves with their peers.

【小题2】What is the first step toward reducing the harm caused by social media?

A．Accepting reality.

B．Finding a role model.

C．Ignoring others’ opinions.

D．Having an optimistic attitude toward life.

【小题3】What is the purpose of paragraph 4?

A．To suggest how we can be a good person.

B．To state that helping others makes us perfect.

C．To explain the importance of living up to our values.

D．To clear up possible misunderstandings about being a good person.

【小题4】What is the key message of the last paragraph?

A．Parents should have regular communication with their kids.

B．Parents should motivate their kids’ inner drive.

C．Children should be taught about real values.

D．Children should make clever decisions.