Digital Immigrants:

Adopters of web technologies

prefer to talk in person

logical, sequential learners

focus on one task at a time

prefer to have interaction with one or few people rather than many

Get info for traditional news sites

Digital Natives:

Born during or after digital age

Always on, attached to a phone or other device

intuitive learners, parallel thinkers:  sequential thinking tackles one thing at a time, parallel thinking tackles many issues at once, letting each inform the others. It creates conversation between different areas of life — career, relationships, friendships, hobbies — and causes crossover growth

multitask and rapidly task-switch

extremely social

multimedia oriented

Digital native does not mean tech savvy or tech healthy, nor does it mean they do not need training in being safe while using technology.  As a matter of fact, digital natives need even more support in order to protect their mental and physical wellbeing, and know how to use technology in a balanced way.  

• 95% of teens report that they own a smartphone or have access to one

• 45% of teens report that they are online on a near-constant basis

• Time spent using digital media has now surpassed the time they spend watching television

• Tiktok has become one of most popular apps used for teens and tweens. From 2020 to 2021, usage doubled in this age group.

Despite the nearly ubiquitous presence of social media in their lives, there is no clear consensus among teens about these platforms’ ultimate impact on people their age. A plurality of teens (45%) believe social media has a neither positive nor negative effect on people their age. Meanwhile, roughly three-in-ten teens (31%) say social media has had a mostly positive impact, while 24% describe its effect as mostly negative.

Given the opportunity to explain their views in their own words, teens who say social media has had a mostly positive effect tended to stress issues related to connectivity and connection with others. Some 40% of these respondents said that social media has had a positive impact because it helps them keep in touch and interact with others. Many of these responses emphasize how social media has made it easier to communicate with family and friends and to connect with new people

• Social media can strengthen relationships.

• Can use to do good in the world - reach out to volunteer, create community, be inclusive

• Most kids just having fun, according to the Pew Research Internet Project:

  • 57 percent of all teens have made new friends online

  • 84 percent of boys who play networked games with friends feel more connected when they play online 

  • 68 percent of teen social media users have had online friends support them through tough or challenging times

  • Of course, face-to-face social skills still important!

Meanwhile, 17% of these respondents feel these platforms harm relationships and result in less meaningful human interactions. Similar shares think social media distorts reality and gives teens an unrealistic view of other people’s lives (15%), or that teens spend too much time on social media (14%).

https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2018/05/31/teens-social-media-technology-2018/

You’re already teaching kids to be good human beings, but there’s an additional layer to that lesson when kids are behind a keyboard. It’s easier for kids to be mean or say things they wouldn’t otherwise say -- disinhibition effect.

• Centers for Disease Control estimates that cyberbullying affects about 15.5 percent of high school students. 

• For comparison, about 20 percent of high schoolers experience in-person bullying at school.

• Just like with real-life bullying, some kids are easier targets

• Some apps lend themselves to meanness (anonymity, apps localized by school, etc.)

• Make sure they know how to report abuse in the app

• Peers sticking up for peers best defense, so encourage upstanding

• Take screenshots and get an adult involved if it’s ongoing or safety is threatened

• “Sexting” is a term used to describe the sharing of intimate images or video with another person. 

• The content can range from sexually driven texts and partial or full nude photos to sexual videos or pornography. Very often, sexting occurs between couples or people who are dating, but it can also happen between friends or groups. JUST BECAUSE YOU DON’T THINK YOUR CHILD HAS A SIGNIFICANT OTHER DOESN’T MEAN THEY AREN’T BEING ASKED FOR THESE TYPE REQUESTS.

• Sexting can happen via a whole range of devices, technologies, and online spaces. 

66% of our middle schoolers said that they have a hard time standing up for themselves and their beliefs.

All of these impulses to be a part of things can lead to some poor choices.  If you think you child isn't being asked or tempted to send a photo of themselves, think again! Talk with your children about this! Students are asking each other as early as 6th grade to send “nudes”.

• Kids and their friends often share and post before thinking of their future selves.

• Think of what people post as a digital tattoo: It's persistent and searchable.

• No matter who promises you that no one will ever see the photo they send, it is NOT true! Photos always circulate!

• 40 percent of college admissions officers check applicants' social media profiles.

Report to an adult!

• Question we want to answer: How do we use media in balance as a family, find quality content, set expectations around healthy use to prevent conflict, and raise media savvy consumers and creators?

• Good news: If you're worried about doing it "right," you're probably not doing it "wrong."

• We know you want tips and tools - and we’ll get there - but just as important to have all info

• We will sketch out the kids and media landscape and offer tips and tools along the way, but there is no magic bullet: Tech and media moves too fast for simple solutions, so though we will give practical tips, the overall information and framework are even more important.

Is social media affecting your health, relationships, school?   HOW MUCH IS TOO MUCH FOR YOU?

Touch on technology addiction?

• Question we want to answer: How do we use media in balance as a family, find quality content, set expectations around healthy use to prevent conflict, and raise media savvy consumers and creators?

• Good news: If you're worried about doing it "right," you're probably not doing it "wrong."

• We will sketch out the kids and media landscape and offer tips and tools along the way, but there is no magic bullet: Tech and media moves too fast for simple solutions, so though we will give practical tips, the overall information and framework are even more important.

So how do we combat the content we're concerned about? 

• With little kids, we choose, but tweens choose for themselves with our guidance.

• The goal is to help them make good choices on their own. But that comes in baby steps! Do not let down the floodgates from the first day they have a phone in their possession.

• It's OK to check, but best to let them know that you will, not to catch them, but to help.

• Always follow up with a chat about what you find -- or don't find -- in texts, apps, and search/viewing histories. 

• Many kids use social media and go online without much trouble, but if they make mistakes, we can help guide them to better choices moving forward.

• Many of us can relate - it can be hard to stop

• Many of us think we can multitask, even though research shows that it hurts performance (University of Utah, 2013)

• Remember that quality matters!

• FOMO is real for teens: Digital communication and social media can create a new kind of social pressure that we can't dismiss as parents 

• There are ways we can limit device use at home, starting with how we use it ourselves and model it for our kids

• We'll also talk about device-free zones and times to help curb use so it doesn't feel like a runaway train

Set limits around time and places where kids (and you) can and can't use devices -- like the car or the bedroom or the dinner table.

Make dinner device-free!

• Healthier eating habits

• Improved academic performance

• Less risk of substance abuse

Other Device-free zone ideas:

• Bedrooms

• Past 9pm

• Device usage only in public and visible places within the home

Just because you have a tracking software doesn't mean you are safe. 

Parents usually want to know how to monitor phone use and shut it all down when things get dicey. Common Sense media has a list of ideas on their site.

• Can cause unwanted behavior to go underground

• Kids circumvent devices and software

• Open new accounts

• Put parents in “restricted status” so they can’t see posts

To learn to ride, kids might need to fall a few times, and we can be there to pick them up.

Less intrusive controls keep the conversation going:

• For shared devices, both iOS and Android have guided access:

  • Android - restricted profiles and code-enabled parent controls

  • iOS Guided access - limits access to apps, volume, optional time limit

  • Google Safe Search doesn’t totally block things if kids are looking for them, but good first step