Helping Kids Think Critically About Influencers They Follow Online
When I was a teenager, my role model was Olympic gymnast Mary Lou Retton. I admired everything about her. I cut my hair like hers and brushed my teeth three times a day, determined to get my smile to sparkle like hers. I even started eating Wheaties when she endorsed ...
Want Your Kids to Care More About Online Safety? Try These 7 Tips
The topics parents need to discuss with kids today can be tough compared to even a few years ago. The digital scams are getting more sophisticated and the social culture poses new, more inherent risks. Weekly, we have to breach very adult conversations with our kids. Significant conversations about sexting, ...
5 Hidden Hashtag Risks Every Parent Needs Know
Adding hashtags to a social post has become second nature. In fact, it’s so common, few of us stop to consider that as fun and useful as hashtags can be, they can also have consequences if we misuse them. But hashtags are more than add-ons to a post, they are ...
Clicks & Cliques: How to Help Your Daughter Deal with Mean Girls Online
According to a new report released by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), mean girls are out in force online. Data shows that girls report three times as much harassment online (21%) as boys (less than 7%). While the new data does not specify the gender of the aggressors, experts ...
Digital Parenting: How to Keep the Peace with Your Kids Online
Simply by downloading the right combination of apps, parents can now track their child’s location 24/7, monitor their same social conversations, and inject their thoughts into their lives in a split second. To a parent, that’s called safety. To kids, it’s considered maddening. Kids are making it clear that parents ...
How to Help Kids Steer Clear of Digital Drama this School Year
Editor’s note: This is Part II of helping kids manage digital risks this new school year. Read Part I. The first few weeks back to school can be some of the most exciting yet turbulent times of the year for middle and high schoolers. So as brains and smartphones shift ...
FOMO: How to Help Digital Kids Overcome the Feeling of Missing Out
What happens when you give hundreds of teenagers smartphones and unlimited access to chat apps and social networks 24/7? A generation emerges with a condition called Fear of Missing Out, or, FOMO. While feelings of FOMO have been around for centuries, social media has done its part to amplify it, ...
Family Safety: Twitter, Instagram Beef Up Measures to Fight Hate Speech, Bullying
The past few weeks have proven to be wins for family safety with several top social networks announcing changes to their policies and procedures to reduce the amount of hateful conduct and online bullying. Twitter: ‘Dehumanizing Language Increases Risk’ In response to rising violence against religious minorities, Twitter said this ...
5 Digital Risks to Help Your Teen Navigate this Summer
S’mores. Sparklers. Snow cones. Sunburns. Fireflies. Remember when summer was simple? Before smartphones and social networks, there was less uploading and more unwinding; less commenting and more savoring. There’s a new summer now. It’s the social summer, and tweens and teens know it well. It’s those few months away from ...
#Verified — Worth the Risk?
In the social media world, a little blue checkmark next to a username is a sought-after status symbol. Celebrities, global brands, famous pets, and public figures alike have verified Instagram accounts, indicating to fans that the account they are following is “verified” as the real deal. With an established social ...
