The mayor of Mount Pearl says one of the challenges in supporting youth in the city is combating the influence of online role models.

One aspect of Mount Pearl’s new Community Safety and Well-Being Plan is to create positive and supportive environments for young people.

Dave Aker says they want to reduce bullying and harassment, and create “positive role models” for young people.

Aker calls it “unfortunate” that many people’s role models today come from social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok.

“Those role models are not necessarily what you would want your children to grow up with because they’re not really… There’s no personal interaction. A lot of times when people have personal interaction, they resolve their differences and role models play a bigger role, but the role models today are very artificial-looking, very stereotypical, and they just encourage a polarization of youth.”