Guest post by Jason Brand As a therapist who specializes in helping families navigate an increasingly digital culture, Jason Brand, LCSW, hears a lot from teens about what they find helpful and not helpful when it comes to their social lives, digital devices and advice from their parents. I first met Jason when we were interviewed on a radio show together a few years ago and have been a fan … [Read more...] about Digital & social: A teen’s perspective on parenting
adolescent development
Does digital downtime fix FOMO?
Maureen O'Connor at New York Magazine calls it "the Band-Aid of Luddism." Not that anybody who takes days off from digital media is a Luddite. Certainly not. It's just that band-aids don't fix problems; they make them less visible (yes, and help keep things clean, but stay with me for a minute, here). "We have a tendency to blame technology-mediated problems on the technology itself," … [Read more...] about Does digital downtime fix FOMO?
Teens & social media: Parents’ other job
An interesting myth about social media is the one about tension between teen privacy and teen safety. Because of all the scary messaging about the Internet that has been in circulation for almost two decades, many parents seem to believe it's their job to monitor their children's Net use closely. The assumption is that privacy (from parents) jeopardizes their safety. That assumption deserves to … [Read more...] about Teens & social media: Parents’ other job
‘Noodz,’ ‘selfies,’ ‘sexts,’ etc., Part 2: For better youth education
Social norms – the expectations and cues that govern behavior in a group or a society – are protective. There hasn't been much reference to them in the Internet safety field, but they're a pillar of individual and collective wellbeing wherever there is community. You may've noticed that, at the end of Part 1 of this series, I quoted Sydney-based researcher and author Nina Funnell where she touched … [Read more...] about ‘Noodz,’ ‘selfies,’ ‘sexts,’ etc., Part 2: For better youth education
Teens, social media & trolls: Toxic mix
This is and isn't about technology. Mostly isn't. But digital media allow for and expose a dangerous blend of two very different aspects of humanness, one destructive, the latter normative: social cruelty and teenage vulnerability (a lot of focus recently having been on the female variety). The cruelty, the extreme version called trolling – which feeds on outrage and weaponizes cultural … [Read more...] about Teens, social media & trolls: Toxic mix