A Fairy Tale Could Destroy the Power of Childhood Social Media

Several weeks ago, I spoke at a local Christian school’s elementary and middle school chapel. Rather than preaching, I wrote a short fable that illustrated the destructive power of social media and smart devices. Much to my surprise, children connected deeply with the story. Some even went back to their parents to ask for help reducing their device usage! So I wanted to share it with our community. You can read it to your children and use the questions at the end to start a dialogue about why you won’t be giving them social media (ideally before 16) or why you’re choosing to take it away. You might be surprised how God uses the power of story to break the allure of social media.

Theodore and the Magic Glass

Theodore and Isabella lived many years ago, in a small village. They were the closest of friends from the youngest age. And above everything else, they loved to play near the crystal lake in the emerald woods. Life was full of color. The green grass. The blue water. The brown sand. The yellow sun. And the violet sunset. Everyone in their village loved color. They found eternity in every shade, and they saw color in every moment. Above all, they loved the colors of friendship. Sometimes, when Theodore felt blue, he would find Isabella and she would turn his heart a warm red once more. For eleven years, they played together and became the best of friends.

One day, a wealthy magician came through the village. His name was Sir Mark the Magician. Theodore and Isabella liked him immediately because he was tall, well-dressed, and well-spoken. “Gather round, Gather round,” Sir Mark shouted, standing on the back of his wagon. “Gather round, and you will behold the most beautiful enchantment ever imagined. Yes, come see what the great magicians in the great bay have made to fill your life with cheer!”

Theodore rushed to find a seat In the first row, but before he made two steps, his father grabbed him by the shoulder and said quietly, “My son, you must not be so swift to trust a magician.”

Theodore disagreed. He watched with jealousy as Isabella made her way to the front. Her parents were not far behind. Why me? he thought to himself. Why should Isabella have all the fun? Why must my father ruin everything? Eventually, the crowd grew so large that Theodore could no longer see Sir Mark the Magician.

But Isabella could, and this is what she saw.

From his bag, Sir Mark withdrew a small piece of glass. The crowd fell silent. “In my hand, I hold what appears to be only a small piece of glass. But appearances can be tricky, can they not? So I have a question. Who here loves the color of life?”

Everyone raised their hands. They loved the dancing green of windblown trees. They relished the calming blue of the crystal lakes. They loved the yellow warmth of the sun and evenings around the hearth with family.

“Indeed,” continued Sir Mark, “I, too, love color. Which made me wonder: Why must I travel hither and thither to see it? Why must I trek into the forest or even to my neighbor’s house? Why should I not enjoy every color wherever I go, whenever I want it? And so I made it so. I created my magic glass.”

Isabella’s eyes lit up as Sir Mark tapped the glass, and suddenly, it came to life with all her favorite colors. In fact, the colors in the glass seemed even more vibrant than the colors around her.

Sir Mark continued, “Having enchanted this single pane of glass, I knew I could not keep such a treasure to myself. I knew all must enjoy the beauty. And all may. But for a small price, any and all of you can carry all the color of life in your own glass wherever you go.”

At Sir Mark’s invitation, there was a shuffling of feet and a jingling of coin purses. The entire village lined up to buy a magic glass. One for every member of every family.

“Oh, father,” Theodore said, “can’t we buy a magic glass?”

His father paused and thought, and then said, “We have little coin to spare. Why pay for what we can freely enjoy? Are the colors not ours all the day long?”

Theodore went home quite sad. And the sadness deepened over the next month. You see, all his friends had a magic glass of their own. Even Isabella. At first, they left their glasses at home and played like normal.

But over time, Theodore’s friends left their houses less and less. When Isabella came out, she always had her magic glass in hand. So instead of talking and playing, she would simply sit there staring. And so it was with all the children, except Theodore, who was bored and lonely. Every day, he would beg his dad for a magic glass. Everyone else had one. He was left out. But his father refused.

And so the months went on. And then Theodore began to notice something strange. Wherever a magic glass was out, it seemed to him as though the world around it grew faintly dim. The glass was bright as ever. But the emerald trees grew pale in a glass’s presence. Isabella, who everyone agreed was the most beautiful little girl in the whole village, lost the rosiness in her cheeks. When she spoke to Theodore, she always seemed worried, sad, and lonely. At least until she looked into her glass—and for a moment, she felt better.

“What do you see in your glass, Isabella?” asked Theodore one day.

Isabella slowly looked up and said, “The colors swirl, and I see the most beautiful maidens and princesses. More beautiful than anyone in our village!”

“Wow, that must be incredible!” responded Theodore.

“It is,” responded Isabella. But as she spoke the words, Theodore saw the color drain from her face. Her eyes lowered. The faintest shade of fear was the only color in her complexion.

“Is something wrong?” asked Theodore.

She remained silent for a long while before responding, “Do you ever think I’ll be as beautiful as the princesses in my glass? They’re perfect in every way. There isn’t a flaw on their face, like mine. They’re all petite, and I am not. And they all look so happy with their families. So much happier than my family. We hardly talk anymore.”

Theodore knew this was true. In the past, when he visited her house, it was full of laughter and conversation. But now they ate their meals in silence, staring into their magic glasses.

He told Isabella, “Isabella, you’re the most beautiful girl in all the world. You’re more beautiful than any princess!”

Isabella shot him a sudden angry glare. “Don’t lie to me. I’m too fat. Too short. Too many things to ever be like them.” She sprung to her feet and fled from Theodore weeping.

He didn’t see her again for many weeks. When he did, she looked frail and hungry.

Soon Theodore realized that everyone saw more than color in their glass. The mayor saw a new carriage. The blacksmith saw a better anvil. The innkeeper said his glass showed his inn full of entertaining bards. But Theodore was perplexed. As joyous as the glass’s visions sounded, everyone around him seemed less happy. And everywhere the glass went, the colors seemed to dissipate. The greens were no longer pale. Now they sometimes seemed gray. So gray that Theodore couldn’t distinguish the color of the grass from the color of the sand.

But the magic glasses never faded. They only grew all the brighter. And the brighter they grew, the more Theodore wanted one for himself. So Theodore set out one morning to find Sir Mark the Magician and a glass for himself. It just so happened that Sir Mark was visiting, selling more magic glasses to the next village over.

The village was vibrant and full of chatter. Theodore found his way to the front of the line, and Sir Mark asked him for a single coin. Theodore’s face fell. He had no coin to give. But Sir Mark spoke to him kindly. “I recognize you, dear child. Are you not from the one family that refused my magic glass? Your father should not have been so unkind. Who am I to withhold such joy?” He handed a glass to Theodore, gave him a knowing wink, and moved on to his next customer.

For three weeks, Theodore hid his magic glass in a hollow stump in the woods. He snuck from his home to gaze into it. At first, it was but once a day. Soon it was twice. And eventually, it became every moment he could take. Whenever he was far from his glass, he missed it. He felt its presence. When he was sad, bored, or lonely, only the glass could make him happy again.

The more he left his house to see his glass, the more his father asked him to say. Asked him if he was okay. “My son, you seem so distant. So sad. You’ve lost your sense of adventure. And you don’t look well. Your face has grown pale. Are you sick?”

Theodore lashed out at his father. “I’m just fine! You don’t understand. You always want me here, but I’m not happy here. I’d be happy if you’d just leave me be!”

He ran from his house into the woods, found his glass, and stared into it. He was so immersed that he didn’t notice his favorite lake and favorite trees losing their last drop of color. He himself turned gray. The sunset came and went. But Theodore didn’t sleep. He couldn’t sleep. He stared and stared and stared until the sun rose.

He was so tired and lost in the glass that he couldn’t hear the voice of his father seeking him out. “My son! My son! Theodore! Where are you?” His father searched the entire night and did not find him until the next morning.

“Are you okay? Are you alive?” his father cried out. He saw the magic glass in Theodore’s hands, and asked, “What is this?” And with that question, the spell began to crack and Theodore began to cry and confessed that he’d taken a magic glass from Sir Mark. He’d hidden it, he admitted, and he’d been staring into it for months now.

“Can you ever forgive me, Father?” Theodore sobbed.

His father scooped him up into his arms and said, “I can always forgive you, my son. I love you. I delight in you. I am so well pleased with you. Yes, you have done a foolish thing, but not so foolish that it cannot be undone.”

As soon as he finished consoling Theodore, anger flashed on his father’s face. For a moment, Theodore thought it was directed toward him. But his father was not looking at him. His father was looking at the magic glass. He gently set down Theodore and pulled out a simple hammer and nail from his pouch. Then, with a single swing, he drove the nail through the magic glass, shattering it into a thousand pieces. Brilliant colors exploded out of it and back into the world. Emerald green splashed the grass. Sapphire blue flooded the lake. And the most loving, warm red filled Theodore’s gray body with life.

Tears ran down Theodore’s father’s face. Tears of joy. But also tears of pain, because the shattering glass sliced deep cuts along his hands. Blood flowed. Theodore began to cry with joy and pain as well. “Are you okay, Father?” he asked with a trembling voice. His father nodded gravely. But his smile never disappeared.

“This was a powerful and evil enchantment. It cannot be broken without sacrifice, and I have made it. But come, my son, we must set our friends free before it is too late.”

“But won’t you be hurt, Father?”

“Yes, I suppose so. But we cannot wait.”

So they travelled from house to house breaking glass after glass. As they went, Theodore’s father grew weaker and weaker. Deep cuts covered his hands, then his arms, and then his chest until it seemed his whole body was bleeding. But Theodore’s father carried on. Not from a sense of duty or honor, but for the joy set before him. Because every house he set free became a house full of light, laughter, and beauty.

They came to the final house, and Theodore knew his father had little left. It was the house of Isabella, Theodore’s most beloved friend. Before his father could enter, Theodore said, “Father, you cannot survive shattering another magic glass. The spell cannot be broken without sacrifice, and this last sacrifice is too much for you. This sacrifice is mine to make.”

His father tried to stop Theodore, but he was too weak. So Theodore took the hammer and the nail from his pouch, entered the bleak house, and took the magic glasses from Isabella and her parents. They, too, had no energy to stop him. With a single stroke, Theodore drove the nail down and broke all the glasses at once. Theodore howled with pain as the glass exploded, cutting red rivulets into his small hands.

Tears rolled down his cheeks. Tears of pain, yes. But also tears of joy as he watched color fill Isabella’s face once more. Theodore spoke to her. “You are the most beautiful girl in the world.”

Isabella smiled. For the first time in a long time, she believed what he said.

The End.

Discuss the following questions with your child. 

1. How was the magic glass like a modern-day phone or tablet?
2. How did the magic glass make Isabella feel? How can screens do the same thing today?
3. What did the magic glass do to families and the village? How can screens do the same thing today?
4. How did the magic glass change Theodore? Why do you think it was hard for him to give up staring at his magic glass?
5. What happened to Theodore’s dad when he destroyed the magic glass?
   1. If your child has a screen: What would be hard about giving up your screen?
6. What good things happened after the magic glass was destroyed?
   1. If your child has a screen: What good things might happen if we gave up our screens?
   2. If your child doesn’t have a screen: What good things do we have because we don’t have screens?
7. How do you see the story of Jesus’s sacrifice in Theodore’s dad? Do you think Jesus can set us free from the power of screens?

Note: It might be helpful to explain to your child that researchers have discovered that using social media before the age of 16 causes significantly higher rates of loneliness, depression, anxiety, eating disorders, and suicidal ideation. Share how cigarettes have a warning from America’s top doctor, the Surgeon General, because they can kill you. Now the same doctor is saying that we need to have a similar warning on social media: it may not be able to kill your body, but it can destroy your heart.