A Teen’s View of Social Media in 2020
I recently met a high schooler named Eve, and appreciated our conversations about all things related to social media, identity, loneliness, affirmation, and purpose. I thought she would be an ideal person to share “A Teen’s Perspective on Social Media in 2020” and she happily obliged. Below are her thoughts; we both hope they give […]
Smart Social Networking: Fifteen Tips for Teens
(For a formatted .pdf version of this article for distribution, click on the image above [or click here]). Spanish Translation Available Here Don’t let your social media use negatively affect your life. Follow these simple strategies and avoid problems later! 1. DON’T POST OR SEND ANYTHING YOU WOULD BE EMBARRASSED FOR CERTAIN OTHERS TO SEE. […]
A Teen’s Perspective on Social Media
Each year, we like to share a teen’s perspective regarding their social media use so that youth-serving adults can be “in the know” as to what adolescents are up to these days. I hope it updates you and provides an instructive viewpoint on the way in which teens approach technology use, friendships, online hate – […]
Revenge Porn and the Purge trend on Instagram and Twitter
Since last weekend, our site has received a lot of reports from both victims and other concerned social media users about the #purge phenomenon that has gone viral. For those of you unfamiliar, The Purge was a movie that came out in 2013. The storyline featured the premise of all crime being legal for […]
Anonymous Postings on Confession Pages, Secret, and Whisper
Describes Facebook and Twitter confession pages, as well as how apps like Secret and Whisper are being used – both for cyberbullying and to help teens cope. What many adults don’t understand, they freak out about. Especially as it relates to teens. I’m generalizing here, but you know what I mean – we really don’t […]
Teacher shames student in classroom after student bullies teacher on Twitter
Recently, a female student in Northern Mexico posted very offensive comments about her teacher – Ms. Idalia Hernandez Ramos – on Twitter. These included referring to her as a “whore” and a “bitch,” and defaming her in other hurtful and insulting ways. At best, the behavior is a youthful indiscretion that unfortunately hurts the feelings […]
Catfishing as a Form of Cyberbullying
“Catfishing,” at least in the online world, refers to the practice of setting up a fictitious online profile, most often for the purpose of luring another into a fraudulent romantic relationship. The Urban Dictionary defines a “catfish” as: “someone who pretends to be someone they’re not using Facebook or other social media to create false […]
Nice it Forward
There appears to be a growing movement among teens to, well, be nice. Or at least a movement to actively use social media to say nice things about others. We are all familiar with the myriad of ways that technology can be used to cause harm; this blog is dedicated to working towards limiting those […]
What is the story with IsAnyoneUp.com?
One of the Internet’s latest privacy controversies surrounds the rapidly-growing web site Isanyoneup.com. The site, which launched in late 2010, is essentially a hybrid of social media and amateur pornography – described by some media outlets as a blog for “Revenge Porn.” The blog features thousands of posts containing extremely explicit photos of naked men […]
A Student’s Guide to Personal Publishing
This handout discusses issues that students should consider when creating offline or online content and then publishing it for others to see. It also provides guidelines that can inform how best to make and share ideas, opinions, and multi-media in a way that does not lead to negative repercussions. Patchin, J. W. & Hinduja, S. […]
