Read the latest news and brand new pieces on youth, social media, and emerging technologies! We focus on preventing harm and promoting positive online behaviors.

New Bullying Data—and Definition—from the National Crime Victimization Survey post thumbnail

New Bullying Data—and Definition—from the National Crime Victimization Survey

The National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) is a large-scale data collection effort led by the U.S. Census Bureau and the Bureau of Justice Statistics. A nationally-representative sample of approximately 90,000 households is selected, and a survey is administered face-to-face or via telephone twice a year for three years to 160,000 persons within those households who […]

Millions of Students Skip School Each Year Because of Bullying post thumbnail

Millions of Students Skip School Each Year Because of Bullying

Over five years ago I saw a statistic that jumped out at me: “160,000 students stay home from school every day because of bullying.” This is a compelling and frankly unacceptable number. I thought about including it in a book that Sameer and I were working on at the time. As I started to dig […]

Cultivating Resilience To Prevent Bullying and Cyberbullying post thumbnail

Cultivating Resilience To Prevent Bullying and Cyberbullying

We’ve all heard the “sticks and stones” adage while growing up, and the reality is that words – whether expressed online or in person – can hurt.  Sometimes very deeply.  But do they always?  And do they have to?  That is, do I have any say in the matter or am I completely at the […]

New National Bullying and Cyberbullying Data post thumbnail

New National Bullying and Cyberbullying Data

Here at the Cyberbullying Research Center, we use data to better understand what teens are thinking, doing, and experiencing at school and online. We promote evidence-based and research-inspired policies, procedures, and programming. And given the frequently-changing nature of technology use and misuse, we find it necessary to collect our own data on a regular basis […]

How Social Media Helps Teens Cope With Anxiety, Depression, and Self-Harm post thumbnail

How Social Media Helps Teens Cope With Anxiety, Depression, and Self-Harm

It is easy for many adults – whether educators or parents – to focus on the negatives of social media in the lives of teens today. This is understandable, because they are the ones who have to deal with the fallout when adolescents make mistakes online (cyberbullying incidents, sexting cases, electronic dating violence, digital reputation […]

Helping Kids with Autism Spectrum Disorder when Bullied or Cyberbullied post thumbnail

Helping Kids with Autism Spectrum Disorder when Bullied or Cyberbullied

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder that affects social communication and often is marked by restricted interests, repetitive behaviors, and focus and sensory issues. ASD is diagnosed along a continuum from Level 1 (which can be equated to traditional conceptions of Asperger’s Syndrome – a term largely outdated), to Level 2 (where the […]

The “Trump Effect” on Adolescent Bullying Behaviors at School post thumbnail

The “Trump Effect” on Adolescent Bullying Behaviors at School

American presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton recently remarked that: “Parents and teachers are already worrying about what they call the ‘Trump Effect.’ They report that bullying and harassment are on the rise in our schools, especially targeting students of color, Muslims and immigrants.” (August 25th, 2016, Reno, NV) But is this accurate? It came out of […]

A Teen’s Thoughts on Social Media post thumbnail

A Teen’s Thoughts on Social Media

I get a chance to meet and hang out with a lot of youth as I help schools educate their faculty, staff, and students about promoting positive teen technology use. With some, I’ve developed a friendship and have met their parent(s), and it has provided me a sounding board off which I can bounce ideas, […]

What you need to know about Musical.ly post thumbnail

What you need to know about Musical.ly

Musical.ly, an increasingly popular app with tweens and teens, allows individuals to create and share short videos that are lip-synced to songs of their choice. Remarkably, there are 80 million registered users, with around 10 million of those active on a daily basis.  These “Musers” – as they are called – upload an average of […]

Ignore, Unfollow, or Unfriend? Managing Facebook Connections in Conflicted Times post thumbnail

Ignore, Unfollow, or Unfriend? Managing Facebook Connections in Conflicted Times

We all have them: Facebook friends who post something annoying, inappropriate, inaccurate, or upsetting. It could just be accidentally misspelled words or misused vocabulary. Or debating whether slaves helped to build the White House. Or it could be something much worse. Sometimes these posts stem from carelessness, naiveté, or ignorance. Other times they are clear […]