Year One of a Phone-Free School

In my last piece, I shared about the inconclusive research findings associated with banning student phones at school and the outcomes of academic achievement and positive mental health and well-being. I argued that we shouldn’t treat these devices as a singular crisis, because social, cultural, and contextual factors all strongly affect how students do scholastically […]

Student Phones, School Bans, and Youth Mental Health

The anxiety surrounding smartphones’ impact on youth mental health has reached a fever pitch, and I am getting an increasing number of inquiries from educators about what they should do as they approach summer, revisit their school policies, and prepare for the next academic year. Many administrators and teachers have read social psychologist Jonathan Haidt’s […]

Instagram’s School Partnership Program – Prioritized Reporting to Help Students

As Youth Advisory Board members for Meta for almost a decade, Justin and I get the opportunity to use our research findings to shine a spotlight on how their products and services can be improved to better safeguard and support teens. One gap that I’ve always believed could be spanned is the one between social […]

A Teen’s View of Social Media in 2025

For our newest installment in our annual series, I’d like to introduce you to my sixteen year-old friend Elly as she sketches out the scene of modern digital life among adolescents these days. Consider this a boots-on-the-ground report covering some really relevant topics – how TikTok’s algorithm sometimes swings wildly, why Snapchat’s “private” stories require […]

The SAFEST Model: Streamlining EU Youth Online Safety Legislation

Research demonstrates that social media offers young people significant benefits while simultaneously presenting notable risks. These services enable vital social connections, foster learning and skill development, provide safe spaces for identity exploration (especially crucial for underrepresented youth), and create opportunities for civic engagement and activism. However, these advantages are accompanied by a variety of potential […]

How Platforms Should Build AI Chatbots to Prioritize Youth Safety

The introduction and adoption of AI chatbots across multiple domains has ushered in many enjoyable and educational possibilities. These conversational agents – accessible via stand-alone apps or built into existing popular social media platforms – can offer companionship and support without the pressures or complications of real-world interactions. They can also provide youth with a […]

Our Cyberbullying Scale: Two Decades of Measuring Online Aggression

When Sameer and I first became interested in studying cyberbullying back in 2001, we began our inquiry by simply speaking with folks. We talked with parents and teens, but also with teachers and other school staff, as well as law enforcement officers and anyone else who worked with young people.  We wanted to know more […]

Metaverse risks and harms among US youth: Experiences, gender differences, and prevention and response measures

We have a brand new piece just published in New Media and Society! We are excited about this contribution to the literature base based on a nationally-representative sample of 5,005 youth in the United States. Most importantly, we’ve distilled the findings into clear recommendations for platforms, parents and guardians, teen users, content creators, and schools. […]

Instagram Teen Accounts – A Win for Parents and Legislators

Instagram just announced a significant update to the way they safeguard and support teen users on their platform, and I believe that this development is timely, well-constructed, and one that should lead to measurable benefits. These changes will initially be made to all accounts of youth under 18 years of age in the US, UK, […]

Responding to Cyberbullying: Strategies for School Counselors

Technology has created many opportunities for students to be hurtful to each other in a variety of ways, and has made interpersonal peer conflict even more challenging for schools to deal with. This is complicated by the reality that youth have always been hesitant to confide in adults when faced with problems with peers. In […]

Digital Self-Harm: The Growing Problem You’ve Never Heard Of

Sameer and I first became aware of digital self-harm over a decade ago when we learned of the suicide of Hannah Smith. She was 14 years old when she ended her life after being mistreated online. The resulting investigation determined that the threats and hurtful comments directed toward her on the anonymous app Ask.fm were […]

Lessons Learned from Ten Generative AI Misuse Cases

Generative AI can contribute to a wide range of possible risks and harms that can affect the emotional and psychological well-being of others, their financial state of affairs, and even their physiological health and physical safety.  Both users and platforms (as well as government!) have a clear role to play, and I’ve explained their respective […]

Teens and AI: Virtual Girlfriend and Virtual Boyfriend Bots

A school counselor who works in a private school in California recently emailed me to ask for help as it relates to students and the misuse of specific AI bots. Her concerns, though, did not surround general purpose AI bots like Snapchat’s My AI or Microsoft’s CoPilot, but rather those that are specifically used as […]

When Your Mother is Your Cyberbully

Last winter when Sameer and I were writing the third edition of Bullying Beyond the Schoolyard (published last fall!), we spent quite a bit of time searching for unique examples of cyberbullying to include in the book. One of the more interesting cases I came across involved a 14-year-old girl from Beal City, Michigan. I […]