Social Media and Adolescents: Resources for Parents
Websites:
Center for Humane Technology: Our mission is to align technology with humanity’s best interests. We envision a world with technology that respects our attention, improves our well-being, and strengthens communities. Youth Toolkit
Common Sense Media: Entertainment and technology recommendations for families and schools that help with the navigation of the digital world with their kids. Includes Parent Tips and Facts by age, topic and platform.
ScreenStrong: ScreenStrong empowers families to prevent screen addiction and reclaim their kids from problematic screen use (social media, video games, and pornography). Our solutions are not screen-free; rather they replace toxic screen use with healthy activities, life skill development, and family connections.
Screenagers: Resources on screen time contracts, internet addiction, digital citizenship, etc.
Smart Social : over 400 resources to help parents & educators keep students safe on social media
Wait Until 8th: Initiative that empowers parents to rally together to delay giving children a smartphone until at least the end of 8th grade.
Books to Learn More:
Haidt documents the four fundamental harms of the phone-based sleep deprivation, social deprivation, cognitive fragmentation, and addiction. He then shows the unique harms affecting boys, and the unique harms affecting girls. In the last section of The Anxious Generation , he offers concrete and scientifically based advice with separate chapters addressed to parents, schools, universities, governments, and to teens themselves. AnxiousGeneration.com
Behind Their Screens. What Teens are Facing (and Adults are Missing) by Emily Weinstein and Carrie James
What are teens actually doing on their smartphones? Contrary to many adults’ assumptions, they are not simply “addicted” to their screens, oblivious to the afterlife of what they post, or missing out on personal connection. They are just trying to navigate a networked world. In Behind Their Screens, Emily Weinstein and Carrie James, explores the complexities that teens face in their digital lives.
Films:
Like: LIKE is an IndieFlix Original documentary that explores the impact of social media on our lives. Technology is a tool. It’s here to stay and social platforms are a place to connect, share and care, but what’s really happening? Are we addicted? How do we stop? Where do we start? What do we need to know? By understanding the effects of technology and social media on the brain, on our lives and on our civilization, we can learn how to navigate it more safely together.
Childhood 2.0 The Experiment: Childhood 2.0 is required viewing for anyone who wants to better understand the world their children are navigating as they grow up in the digital age. Featuring actual parents and kids as well as industry-leading experts in child safety and development, this documentary dives into the real-life issues facing kids today — including cyberbullying, online predators, suicidal ideation, and more.
Away for the Day/ By Screenagers: Research shows that kids and teens do better with phones away during school hours. This movement is giving you—parents, teachers, school leaders, and concerned individuals—tools so that you can go to your school and help institute policies where phones are put away.