Social Media

Keeping up with a constant stream of social media notifications on their phones is one of the main drivers of stress among students, reports The Associated Press. Some schools are taking steps to help reduce students' stress and anxiety, such as  engaging students in mindfulness activities, hiring outside firms to scan social media for signs that students might need additional support, and encouraging “unplugging” from devices. One teacher says he has seen a profound shift toward constant self-evaluation in the past 30 years that he’s been teaching, and he associates that with social media. He sees students constantly checking their Instagram, SnapChat, and even school grade portals – all outside forces students have never before had to manage.

Do your children play Fortnite? They may be using it for more than gaming. National Research Group (NRG) recently released a study that found that “Fortnite uniquely combines benefits from gaming, social media and streaming platforms,” with young consumers telling them “it’s the best place to ‘be my authentic self’ and ‘connect to what everyone is talking about, making me feel like I’m not alone.’” While the top social platforms still have more users, Fortnite’s user base volume is catching up to the likes of Twitter.

Just 26% of millennials and Generation Z across the world believe the economic prospects in their home countries will improve in the next year, a figure that has never before dropped below 40%, Deloitte reports in MediaPost Communications. The study, diving into behaviors, perceptions, and beliefs of the young generations, also reports that these groups are “disillusioned, expressing dissatisfaction with their money situation, jobs, government, the way their data is used — and their lives in general”. Interestingly, about 60% say they’d be happier if they spent less time on social media.

Facebook and Snapchat users ages 18 and over in the US are spending around 38 and 26 minutes daily, respectively, on the platforms, while Instagram usage is on the upswing, according to eMarketer. The research firm attributes the changes to Facebook's drop in younger users and a move toward discouraging passive content consumption, Snapchat's app redesign and Instagram's increasing engagement through Stories and influencer content. What social media platform do you use the most now?

According to a recent article in Education Week , 47.7% of 6- to 10-year-old children and more than 50% of children older than 11 have reported experiences of being bullied. The survey of parents by Comparitech also found that over 82.8% of bullying takes place at school, and online it's most common for children to be bullied on Instagram, Facebook or Snapchat. What is your experience? Is there more or less bullying going on despite the abundance of programs aimed at combating it?

In the United Kingdom, a study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences shows that time spent on social media has only a minor impact on life satisfaction (happiness) among adolescents. The authors of the study caution that although the data shows that time spent on social media may not be harming the emotional well-being of teens in the ways that experts often predict, the study only looked at the amount of time the children had spent online – not what they were doing during that time.  That is an interesting take away for parents (and experts)who seem to focus so much of their concern limiting screen time, rather than considering where their kids are spending that time.

Writing in Forbes, Adrian Dayton discusses the seven “dumbest” things people do on social media/business recruiting site LinkedIn. The unprofessionalism Dayton outlines includes filling a bio with overblown adjectives, adding nonsensical hashtags to posts, and making romantic overtures, which is reportedly an increasing problem. Creating more than one profile confuses potential connections, and abandoning a profile signals a lack of seriousness. These are all good tips on what to avoid for both adults and high school students, as many are beginning to use the platform as part of the college application process.

Ever feel like your Gen Z child or student is speaking another language when you try to talk to them? A high school sociology teacher from Massachusetts created a dictionary of teen slang that will help you to decipher what the kids these days are actually talking about.

Viral videos of school fights that show up on social media can incite widespread violence and abuse, with harm coming to perpetrators as well as victims, experts say. Citing a middle school incident that proliferated over social media, licensed clinical social worker Erin Rapp reminds students, "You have to protect each other and look out for each other."

Alan Miller of the nonprofit News Literacy Project writes in The Washington Post that determining what information to trust is really important when getting your news from the web. He cites the example of the current measles outbreak, which officials have said was caused largely in part by anti-vaccination messages on social media. Miller writes that his organization teaches students to apply critical thinking to information they encounter online and to consider it carefully before sharing it. Learning how to know what to believe in the digital age is empowering and should be a regular topic of conversation with your children as you help them navigate the world as digital citizens.