As a society, we're getting closer to the heart of social media safety, which is largely, not entirely, a blend of emotional and social (psychosocial) safety. This thoughtful piece by Prof. Justin Patchin of the Cyberbullying Research Center – "Bullies or Best Friends? The Challenge of Interpreting Interpersonal Relationships" – raises some important questions for parents and school staff as well … [Read more...] about What are we really seeing in the social media fishbowl?
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At the IGF: Youth participation = greater youth e-safety
One of the best things about participating in the Internet Governance Forum is seeing the growing youth participation in sessions about their online protection. And one of the best things I've heard so far, after just 1.5 days of the IGF here in Istanbul this week came from Danish 15-year-old Olivia in a session about "Child Online Protection" where there was much discussion about technical, legal … [Read more...] about At the IGF: Youth participation = greater youth e-safety
Kindness really could be going viral! Just look…
The use of kindness as a conscious, very effective grassroots solution to bullying is picking up steam. Where youth are concerned, sometimes the kindness is purely their idea, such as the kind intervention of two high school upperclassmen that sparked Canada's Pink Shirt Day and students' anti-bullying countermeasures in Iowa in 2012. Other times the impetus comes from teachers and school … [Read more...] about Kindness really could be going viral! Just look…
More clarity on teens’ ‘Am I pretty?’ videos
The thoughtful New York Times story begins with a 13-year-old New Jersey girl posting her "Am I pretty?" video on YouTube. I won't steal its thunder, so I hope you'll read it. But I do want to highlight the points most helpful to parents of young teen girls: Ages 13-15: "Nearly all the people in these videos" are in that age range. Developmentally normal: The videos' sources are in that age … [Read more...] about More clarity on teens’ ‘Am I pretty?’ videos
Zooming in on social norms
This is a sidebar to my earlier post about social norms as one of the solutions to social cruelty online – in case readers would like a little more definition. Social norms are practically super powers. As I mentioned in my main post, this doesn't occur to us much because, well, these are norms, after all – part of the wallpaper, socially speaking. They're everyday behavior based on intangibles … [Read more...] about Zooming in on social norms