We so want to believe it: that the fact that Twitter and Instagram are actively taking down #purge-related accounts signals "the tipping point of this particular phenomenon – and its end has begun," as professor, author and cyberbullying expert Sameer Hinduja writes in an informative blog post. It's very possible we're seeing the tipping point of this week's hot Hollywood premiere-inspired … [Read more...] about Beginning of the end of #purge, revenge porn or social cruelty?
resilience
Factors in good policymaking about youth & digital media
Informed citizens sometimes forget that the reason why negative, tragic or just plain-old bad news is news is because it's the exception to the rule. That's why it's newsworthy. And this is true whether we're hearing about airplane crashes or online bullying. Sometimes the news is unspeakably tragic, but it's still the exception, not the rule. It's not an event from which we can extrapolate what … [Read more...] about Factors in good policymaking about youth & digital media
Heart to heart: How connection protects & grows resilience
Back in 2008, I wrote about evidence that social networks – our social circles, as experienced online or offline – are a source of health and safety. They're also protective in the way that fellow family and community members have each other's backs. And the evidence is growing that meaningful social connections increase safety and well-being. Here's more evidence of how connecting with others … [Read more...] about Heart to heart: How connection protects & grows resilience
Timely for Safer Internet Day: Game-changing insight into Internet risk
One of the milestones of Internet safety was the distinction between risk and harm made by the pan-European researchers of EU Kids Online back in 2011. "Risk must be distinguished from harm,” they wrote in a report based on surveys of more than 25,000 9-to-16-year-olds in 25 countries. “As with riding a bike or crossing the road, everyday activities online carry a risk of harm, but this harm is … [Read more...] about Timely for Safer Internet Day: Game-changing insight into Internet risk
How to grow resilience, Part 2
This is the second of two posts about the internal online (and offline) safeguard resilience. Here's Part 1. Another perspective on resilience: this in a TED Talk in Edinburgh in 2012 in which game designer and author Jane McGonigal shares some simple ways people of all ages can build resilience – the four kinds (physical, emotional, social and mental) that science says increase health, … [Read more...] about How to grow resilience, Part 2