Welcome back, connected parents, to another episode of the Connected Parenting podcast!

Today, we're tackling a topic that many parents find incredibly frustrating—arguing with a teenager—but with a modern twist: the influence social media has on these conflicts.

Teenagers have always been challenging to argue with. Conversations can escalate from zero to 100 in seconds, leaving you feeling completely disoriented.

But in today’s digital world, there’s a new layer—the language of social media-driven psychology. Many teens are now using terms they’ve picked up online, like gaslighting, victim-playing, and toxic behavior, sometimes without fully understanding their meaning.

While it’s great that mental health topics are more widely discussed, these concepts are often taken out of context and misapplied in everyday parent-teen interactions.

So how do we navigate these conversations without making things worse?

In this episode, we’ll dig into building connection, strengthening trust, and helping our teens develop a healthy understanding of the emotions and relationships in their lives.

Jennifer's Takeaways:

• Challenges of Arguing with Teenagers in the Age of Social Media (00:00)
• Understanding the Teenage Brain (03:05)
• Impact of Social Media on Parent-Teen Interactions (07:12)
• Navigating Complex Concepts in Parent-Teen Arguments (10:25)
• Strategies for Staying Calm and Neutral (11:37)
• The Role of Self-Awareness and Responsibility (17:24)
• Resources and Support for Connected Parenting (24:33)

Meet Jennifer Kolari



Jennifer Kolari is the host of the “Connected Parenting” weekly podcast and the co-host of “The Mental Health Comedy” podcast. Kolari is a frequent guest on Nationwide morning shows and podcasts in th US and Canada. Her advice can also be found in many Canadian and US magazines such as; Today’s Parent, Parents Magazine and Canadian Family.

Kolari’s powerful parenting model is based on the neurobiology of love, teaching parents how to use compassion and empathy as powerful medicine to transform challenging behavior and build children’s emotional resilience and emotional shock absorbers.

Jennifer’s wisdom, quick wit and down to earth style help parents navigate modern-day parenting problems, offering real-life examples as well as practical and effective tools and strategies.

Her highly entertaining, inspiring workshops are shared with warmth and humour, making her a crowd-pleasing speaker with schools, medical professionals, corporations and agencies throughout North America, Europe and Asia.

One of the nation’s leading parenting experts, Jennifer Kolari, is a highly sought- after international speaker and the founder of Connected Parenting. A child and family therapist with a busy practice based in San Diego and Toronto, Kolari is also the author of Connected Parenting: How to Raise A Great Kid (Penguin Group USA and Penguin Canada, 2009) and You’re Ruining My Life! (But Not Really): Surviving the Teenage Years with Connected Parenting (Penguin Canada, 2011).