The Skinny on Screen Time: Common Sense Over Research (at least for now)

There has long been a fervent debate about the potential impacts of screen time on youth. When our son was born in 2010, the American Academy of Pediatricians recommended no screen time for children under the age of two. The guidelines have softened a bit in recent years, but the group still generally promotes less rather than more time in front of screens for toddlers and young children.

Read more: https://cyberbullying.org/the-skinny-on-screen-time

Parents' Ultimate Guide to Fortnite

https://www.commonsensemedia.org/blog/parents-ultimate-guide-to-fortnite via @commonsense

Facebook's Parents Portal

Cyberbullying Research Center Newsletter (September 2018)

Cyberbullying Research Center Back to School - September 2018 Welcome to the Cyberbullying Research Center email newsletter! It's that time of the year again: Back to school! We're here to help you make it a great year. Below is an overview of what we've been up to over the last several months. We look forward to working alongside you in the new academic year and don't hesitate to reach out if we can be of assistance.   - Justin Patchin and Sameer Hinduja Where We've Been Recently It's been a busy travel season for us at the Cyberbullying Research Center. We continue to speak all around the world on these issues that we are so passionate about. Here are some examples of recent international trips: •    Amman, Jordan. Justin did a series of presentations for the US State Department and US Embassy in Jordan. •    Bergen, Norway. Sameer presented a keynote address at a conference for youth-serving organizations. •    Bogota, Columbia. Sameer spoke at the "Women Working for the World" Conference. And next month: •    Auckland, New Zealand. Justin will speak at the "Online Safety on the Edge" conference co-sponsored by New Zealand's Netsafe and Australia's Office of the eSafety Commissioner. (more info) In addition to these, we visited dozens of schools in 2017-2018 to talk with tens of thousands of students, educators, and parents about using technology with integrity. To see if we will be speaking near you sometime soon, or to bring us to your community, click here. New and Updated Resources We recently updated many of our popular (and free!) fact sheets and resources. Check them out on our site under "Resources." We also wrote a brand new Top Ten list for teens called "Standing up to Cyberbullying: Top Ten Tips for Teens" with the goal of helping youth become upstanders when confronted with cyberbullying. You can download it here. New Academic Papers We recently published a few academic papers that you may be interested in: Hinduja, S. & Patchin, J. W. (2018). Connecting Adolescent Suicide to the Severity of Bullying and Cyberbullying. Online First in the Journal of School Violence. (more info)        Patchin, J. W. & Hinduja, S. (2018). Deterring teen bullying: Assessing the impact of perceived punishment from police, schools, and parents. Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice, 16(2), 190-207. (more info)      Patchin, J. W. & Hinduja, S. (2017). Digital self-harm among adolescents. Journal of Adolescent Health, 61, 761-766. (more info)      Hinduja, S. & Patchin, J. W. (2017). Cultivating youth resilience to prevent bullying and cyberbullying victimization. Child Abuse & Neglect, 73, 51-62. (more info) If you have trouble accessing any of these on the journal websites, no problem. Just shoot us an email (research@cyberbullying.org) and we'll send you a copy. Student Experiences with Reporting Cyberbullying Most students who are bullied do not report their experiences to adults. This was true 30 years ago when I endured middle school and our research shows it largely continues to this day. I remember being surprised (though maybe I shouldn’t have been) to learn from our first pilot study undertaken 15 years ago that fewer than 15% of those who had been cyberbullied told an adult about it (10% informed a parent while 5% reported it to the school). This made me realize right away that there was a story that needed to be told. And that we needed to do something to improve reporting. Read more on our blog. Empower and Educate, Don’t Just Create Panic Last weekend a Facebook post by the Polk County (Florida) Sheriff’s Office went viral. As of this writing (less than a week later), the post had been shared more than 58,000 times (including by three of my personal Facebook friends, which is how I came to notice it). This wasn’t a post asking for the public’s help in locating a wanted fugitive or advising residents of the latest online phishing scam. Instead, it was a rant about youth and social media. The message, while well-meaning, was misinformed and misguided. Read more on our blog. Most Teenagers Aren’t Asking for Nude Photos A recent New York Times headline caught my attention: “Teenagers, Stop Asking for Nude Photos.” Sage advice, I must admit, but I wondered where this was coming from. In the article, Psychologist Lisa Damour argues that we have long been warning children about the dangers (reputational and potential legal consequences) of sending sexually explicit images, but have largely failed to impress upon them the inappropriateness of asking for such images. “Most schools and many parents already tell teenagers not to send sexualized selfies,” she writes. “But why don’t we also tell adolescents to stop asking for nude photos from one another?” Read more on our blog. Resource of the Month "Teen Sexting: A Brief Guide for Educators and Parents" Newly updated! This research summary reviews what is currently known about teen sexting. Research from across the United States is discussed, along with practical solutions for parents, educators, and other adults to prevent and respond to teen sexting. Download this free resource here. Findings From our Recent Survey We surveyed 5,700 middle and high school students (12-17 year-olds) across the United States in August-October of 2016. Here are a few new quick facts from this study: •    40% said they had a boyfriend/ girlfriend or romantic partner in the last year •    11% said they had engaged in sexual intercourse •    14% reported that they had been the target of dating violence •    11% reported that they had been the target of online dating violence •    10% admitted to participating in dating violence against their partner •    7% said that it occurred using technology We are currently working on an academic paper that will examine digital teen dating violence in more detail. Follow #CRCdata on Twitter for the latest updates! Check out our books! Bullying Today: Bullet Points and Best Practices (more info) Bullying Beyond the Schoolyard: Preventing and Responding to Cyberbullying (more info) Words Wound: Delete Cyberbullying and Make Kindness Go Viral (more info) School Climate 2.0: Preventing Cyberbullying and Sexting One Classroom at a Time (more info) Cyberbullying Prevention and Response: Expert Perspectives (more info) Copyright © 2018 Cyberbullying Research Center, All rights reserved.

Social Media, Social Life: Teens Reveal Their Experiences

Social Media, Social Life: Teens Reveal Their Experiences sheds light on teens' changing social media habits and why some kids are more deeply affected by -- and connected to -- their digital worlds. The report is a nationally representative survey of more than 1,000 kids age 13 to 17. And because it tracks changes from 2012 to today, we can see how teens' social media use continues to evolve. 

Source: https://www.commonsensemedia.org/research/social-media-social-life-2018

Embrace Civility Program for Schools

Reduce student hurtful behavior and increase helpful behavior by reinforcing positive social norms that the majority of students do not admire those who are hurtful and admire those who are kind and compassionate and step in to help.

Increase the resilience of students involved in hurtful incidents using Trauma Informed Care practices.

Increase the ability of students to independently resolve hurtful incidents when using social media or face-to-face by ensuring they gain the skills to effectively respond as a witness, the one targeted, or the one being  hurtful.

http://www.embracecivility.org/embrace-civility/

Quick-Guides for Parents & Educators from ConnectSafely

New Series! Quick-Guides for Parents & Educators

Check out ConnectSafely's new series of short, clearly written guides for parents and educators on: Cyberbullying Instagram Security Secure Passwords Teen Sexting Safe Online Shopping Creativity & Copyright More...

New Guide The Educator's Guide to Creativity & Copyright

Now that our students are creating and remixing audio, video, text and images to “show what they know,” it is essential that they are doing all of this with a clear understanding of their own rights and the rights of other creators or owners of content. More...

Spotlight The Parent's Guide to Instagram (Updated)

If your kids are using Instagram, the best way for you to learn about how it works is to ask them. Kids are often glad to teach their parents about their favorite tech tools and asking them about Instagram is not only a great way to learn about the app itself but also about how your children interact with their friends on social media. That’s very individual, which is why we suggest you ask them about it, but if you want a little general information about using and staying safe in Instagram... More...