 On the left is a person who has studied her craft for over 10 years and has many academic and scientific achievements that have made her a beacon of her profession and its society. On the right, an individual who has been fine-tuning his talent since he was 15 who has sold over 20 million records in a short span of time. On the left, our PhD holder uses her celebrity status to encourage and support education across the world. With 60 million followers on various social media platforms, our artist shares his day-to-day actions and reactions that are full of intrigue. She has written several best-selling books that have pushed the limits of her science. He's also written a best-selling book but it's a tell-all that speaks about his limited life experience, relationships, and challenges. She is 48 years old. He is 24, if you're a child of 12, of the two public influencers. Who would you choose as your role model? Almost every time our children choose him over her and unfortunately this type of personality is now the preferred role model option for our younger generation. What happened to parents being role models or teachers or those within our immediate and tangible circle of extended family, friends, and acquaintances? The crazy thing is that not only do these modern-day role models inspire us to behave and act in ways that reflect their ways but they also openly offer advice, knowledge, and solutions to life situations that are outside their remit and ability. A wider celebrity is allowed themselves to preach to others that are easily swayed by what they have to say. It's not as though they care about the younger generation. It's all about feeding their persona and how best to monetize it. The unfortunate reality is that there is a direct tangential relationship between the diminishing levels of intellectual, emotional, and social intelligence that the current role models of today's younger generation are representative of and the depreciating standards of our own collective intelligence, ethics, morals, and value system as a society. The frightening part is that we aren't even shocked anymore by their questionable behavior. Inappropriateness, infidelities, risky behavior, extremism, and even criminal actions have been rendered common in the lives of the athletes, actors, musicians, or other influencers and this new normal is impacting how our children view and value life as they are at a stage in their development when they have an urge to imitate and assimilate the qualities of those personas they look up to and how to get away from all this negative exposure. First, it all comes down to filter. Who filters what in terms of what our kids get to see or hear? And I'm not purely suggesting that parents are solely responsible for making sure that their children are not exposed to negative content and people. I mean a system that restricts negative personas from the get go. I'm sure your immediate thoughts are you're suggesting censorship, not filtering. Call it what you may, but in today's technological outreach, there is no filter. Children are exposed to any and everyone. There is no separation from people that are good for them and detrimental personalities that can shape them into being humans with lesser moral aptitude and poor behavior. The second component of hedging this condition is by introducing some good to displace the bad. As much as they are bad online and social personas, they are actually a substantial amount of good role models that we should reveal to the younger generations. It is up to parents to introduce role models, mentors or heroes as options for their children. This will provide them with the opportunity to make better and more informed choices concerning who they allow to be part of their digital and interactive realms up to their eventual transformation into adulthood. Today is a challenge for all concerning who assists parents, teachers and public figures in shaping the younger generations of the world. Over the last two decades, with the explosion of digital content and social media, loss of control has taken over. Time and focus have been granted to those influencers who make a mockery of any responsibility towards our children. We don't have time to sit and wait, observe and wait for things to sink in. It's time to take action and re-establish control by supporting our children and identifying their ideal role models. Through exposure to their constructive life experiences and wisdoms, our children just might be able to become the best version of themselves.