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This article from Education Week is about students online behavior outside of school is spilling over to school time. Schools are not prepared to handle what comes with the social media challenges.

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Students' online behavior outside of school is a big worry, survey shows. But most principals don't feel prepared to tackle the challenge.

More than half of U.S. school principals say they're extremely concerned about children's use of social media outside of school, but just 14 percent describe themselves as "very prepared" to help students use social media responsibly.

That's according to a new national survey of school leaders conducted by the Education Week Research Center, which found the fears are particularly acute in middle schools.

The scope of the challenge is evident in the 67,000-student Virginia Beach, Va., district. There, 11 middle schools received threats of violence, many made by students on social media, in the weeks following the February massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla.

"This is the world our teenagers are living in," said Freddie P. Alarcon, the principal of Corporate Landing Middle School, where a student was charged by police with "threatening harm by use of electronic communication" after one of the incidents.

Experts say it's no surprise principals feel overwhelmed.

Long before Instagram and Snapchat, the teenage years have been a developmentally sensitive time when students take risks, navigate fraught social relationships, and try to carve out their own identities. Now, though, social media is an integral part of those often-messy processes, giving children previously unimaginable power to document and broadcast their every action and thought.

The result is that schools face a steady stream of disruptions caused by everything from shooting threats to cyberbullying to nude photos. For principals, that means a constant low-level headache, which periodically escalates into crisis.

Part of the challenge school leaders face is that there's no set checklist they can follow in order to proactively keep students safe on social media or respond effectively when things go sideways.

In response, a growing number of companies are pushing technology solutions, often based on surveillance of students' social media.

Advocates and researchers, meanwhile, suggest a focus on "digital citizenship," building a positive school climate, and counting on students to monitor each other.

Add it all up, and the nation's school leaders are in an unenviable position, said Amanda Lenhart, the deputy director of the Better Life Lab at New America, a Washington think tank.

"I think our expectations of principals have become increasingly unreasonable," Lenhart said."They're fighting a losing battle."

One thing principals can't do is ignore social media.

"It has a tremendous impact on the day-to-day culture of a school," said Daniel Kelley, the president of the National Association of Secondary School Principals and the leader of Rhode Island's Smithfield High School.

The worry for school leaders isn't so much about how students use social media during the school day.

The challenge is that what happens on social media on weekends, evenings, and on the school bus often spills over into the school day, said Anne Collier, the founder of iCanHelpline.org, a social-media helpline for schools.

Most often, she said, that includes problems that never make the local news.

"There's nothing surprising in what principals bring to us," Collier said. "It's bullying, harassment, fake profiles, mean comments, sexting, and stupid pranks."

For principals, the challenge of addressing such problems begins with identifying where students are actually leading their digital lives. Many of the platforms and services young people use-such as Snapchat, Instagram, musical.ly, WhatsApp, Kik, and LINE-may be unfamiliar to the average principal.

And even if school leaders can see what's happening, they must navigate murky legal waters before reacting, said Sonja Trainor, the managing director for legal advocacy at the National School Boards Association. Courts have generally ruled that the First Amendment protects students' speech on personal social-media accounts used outside of school, Trainor said, unless that speech infringes on other students' rights or is likely to cause disruption inside school. Figuring out where that line is drawn can be tricky.

It's also important for school leaders to recognize just how difficult it is for grown-ups to fully grasp the context that helps explain what's taking place on social media, said Lenhart of New America.

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"You're not the audience for what is happening on these platforms," Lenhart said. "Your ability to understand the full interpersonal space you're digging into is really limited."

Companies such as Geo Listening and Social Sentinel promise to use algorithm-driven technologies to monitor students' public social-media posts for everything from suicidal thoughts to school-shooting threats.

A growing number of districts-including Virginia Beach, which is engaged in a "limited pilot" of such a service, according to Spence, the superintendent-are giving it a try.

But school leaders should be skeptical that such companies will actually deliver what they promise, said Faiza Patel, the co-director of the Liberty & National Security Center at the Brennan Center for Justice, which has studied the use of such tools by law enforcement.

There's limited evidence such surveillance-based approaches are effective, Patel said. They generate a tidal wave of information, including lots of false positives (including flagging a post in which a particularly good pizza was described as "the bomb").

And there's every reason to believe that the stereotypes and attitudes that have contributed to racial disparities in student discipline for offline behavior will end up baked into social-media-monitoring tools, Patel argued.

"It's put forward as a panacea," she said. "But everything I've seen about social-media monitoring leads me to believe it's prone to mistakes and not reliable at doing the things we want it to do."

Instead, Patel and other experts agreed, principals are better served by proactively teaching responsible student social-media use on the front end and encouraging a culture of peer monitoring and reporting on the back end.

There's a ways to go before that vision becomes a reality. According to the Education Week survey, more than a third of principals described themselves as "a little prepared" or "not at all prepared" to identify such strategies.

But resources-including a popular K-12 digital-citizenship curriculum from Common Sense Education -are available.

And Collier of iCanHelpline.org said school leaders can take lessons from the broader bullying-prevention field. Getting students involved as part of the solution-by reporting problems to adults and serving as social-media interpreters, for example-is seen as key, she said.

"Social media is much more about people than technology," Collier said. "Kids are your best source of information."

Ultimately, that approach is where Virginia Beach schools have placed their biggest bet.

It starts at the beginning of each school year, when administrators remind students about the consequences for such actions as cyberbullying and sexting.

At Corporate Landing Middle School, such efforts continue throughout the year, said Alarcon, the principal. Digital citizenship is playing a big role in advisory and library time, he said, and it's also a big part of the curricula used in the school's technology education classes.

Virginia Beach also has a districtwide campaign called "Be Social. Be Smart. Be Safe." One big goal is to encourage students and parents alike to report problematic content-and to provide clear, anonymous ways for them to do it.

In that context, argued Spence, the superintendent, the rash of recent arrests of students for making social-media threats against their schools-before any real violence was committed-is actually a sign of progress.

"We would not have known about any of these things if people hadn't felt comfortable reporting them to us," Spence said. "Our culture of saying something is working."

Published in Print: April 18, 2018, as On Social Media, Principals Struggle to Keep Pace

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On Social Media, Principals Fight Losing Battle to Keep Up With Students

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More than half of U.S. school principals say they're extremely concerned about children's use of social media outside of school, but just 14 percent describe themselves as "very prepared" to help students use social media responsibly. That's according to a new national survey of school leaders conducted by the Education Week Research Center, which found the fears are particularly acute in middle schools.

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This is my 20th year teaching in Leander ISD.  I have taught fourteen years in elementary and 6 years in middle school. I will be teaching 7th Grade Math next year unless my dream job opens up.  I intend to graduate with my masters this July.  My goal is to become an Assistant Principal in the very near future.  I would like to return to my roots and spend time with the elementary age kids.

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I spoke with the principal at Cedar Park Middle School, Sandra Stewart.  The following are the top  five issues impacting her role as a principal.

1.     Special Education issues specifically when suggesting that schools are not providing required accommodations.  Staff training is critical along with appropriate supporting documentation provided and followed.

2.    Technology/Cyberbully – our district had five suicides last year and one this year.  Bullying and cyberbullying is a critical issue that should be addressed all year in many formats.

3.    Campus safety at the middle school.  Our campus is the oldest in the district, and the front entrance is a wide-open space. Plans are in place to make changes to the building entrances, and construction will begin this summer in the district.

4.    Disagreeing just to disagree is running ramped.  Parents disagree with the punishment of the student at school and choose to escalate the issue to the superintendent or call the news station to publicize the matter to a broader audience.  The news station often gives a onesided version.

5.    Staff is having inappropriate communication/relationships with students.  This issue is becoming a more significant problem across the country whether it is a report that is not true or it is an accurate reporting.

(S. Stewart, personal communication, June 5, 2018)

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An article in Education Week addressing the misinterpretation of "student privacy". This artical discusses how the courts are looking into the FERPA rules and how they should be interpreted in regards to information provided about students who show signs of inappropriate behavior.

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Commentary

Misinformation in the wake of Parkland tragedy highlights the need to reexamine FERPA

When a deadly or life-threatening crime takes place at an educational institution, the public justifiably asks: Did the school do enough to maintain safety? At such times, "we can't say anything because of student privacy" is a profoundly incorrect answer-legally, morally, and practically.

The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) was enacted in 1974 to protect students against law enforcement snooping into secret files their schools might be keeping without their knowledge. Over the years, aggressive lawyering by school and college attorneys has distorted the statute to encompass much more-but not nearly as much as school administrators insist.

Journalists and concerned parents have been unable to obtain many documents from the Broward County school system that might help the public understand whether school authorities responded to the Parkland, Fla., mass shooter's capacity for violence with adequate urgency. Instead, they have met the "FERPA wall of secrecy" in asking about the background of Nikolas Cruz.

Government records, including those maintained by public schools, are normally presumed to be open for public inspection, even when the records contain sensitive or embarrassing information. But schools have widely come to misunderstand FERPA as preventing them from providing the public even with an anonymized factual description of serious disciplinary incidents or safety problems that involve students.

As a result, parents and community members regularly hear that "something bad happened" at a school but that they can't be told what it is or whether anyone was punished. This makes it impossible for the public to hold schools and colleges accountable for how they use their governmental authority.

When a North Carolina high school student went public last year with allegations that another student swung a noose at him and pulled a knife, the superintendent cited FERPA and told the public little more than that "the matter was immediately investigated by school officials and appropriately handled." After a 13-year-old Georgia student suffered a severe leg injury requiring amputation after an altercation with a district-contracted employee in 2016, the school claimed FERPA forbade them from releasing a surveillance video of the incident.

In these situations and hundreds more like them, schools invoke "student privacy" not because it makes students safer, but because it insulates school officials from having their disciplinary decisions second-guessed.

This is a gross misuse of FERPA. The U.S. Department of Education, which interprets and enforces FERPA (and has never penalized any institution as a violator since it was enacted) has said repeatedly that the statute is a narrow one, protecting only the confidentiality of students' education records. In an interpretation reiterated in several legal opinion letters, the department wrote to one school district in 2006 that "FERPA applies to the disclosure of tangible records and of information derived from tangible records. FERPA does not protect the confidentiality of information in general, and, therefore, does not apply to the disclosure of information derived from a source other than education records, even if education records exist which contain that information."

In other words, as long as a school is not being asked to release the contents of a school-maintained record, federal law presents no prohibition to the disclosure of information that comes from other sources. And it certainly presents no prohibition to the disclosure of information that could only be identifiable by somebody with firsthand knowledge of the situation. For instance, FERPA would not prevent schools from sharing a statement that, "Two students were suspended for making a bomb threat on Twitter," which does not identify the disciplined students by name.

When journalists ask for records about a case like Nikolas Cruz's, their purpose is to assess how government officials did their jobs. Right now, it is up for serious debate whether school authorities responded properly to a potential threat at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School-but without access to the school's records, the debate is an uninformed one.

The initial wave of news stories reported that Cruz was expelled from Stoneman Douglas, but the Miami Herald later reported that no such expulsion took place. When an event of overriding public interest occurs, it serves no legitimate purpose for school officials to withhold accurate information, allowing speculation and rumor to proliferate. There is certainly no precedent for any school to be sanctioned as a FERPA violator for giving out such information (as, for instance, the University of Oklahoma did in announcing the expulsion of two students caught singing a racist song in 2015).

Time and again, educational institutions have put secrecy ahead of safety, insisting that FERPA prevents them from warning the public of dangerous students.

Fortunately, judges are seeing through the distortion of FERPA.

In 2011, an Arizona judge ordered Pima Community College to release internal emails in which employees discussed their concerns about a former student who went on to murder six people in Tucson and gravely wound Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. The judge turned aside the college's insistence that FERPA precluded disclosure of such emails.

More recently, a federal judge sanctioned Northern Kentucky University lawyers who frivolously claimed that FERPA prohibited coaches from testifying about how they responded to sexual-assault accusations against members of the school basketball team.

As these rulings reflect, it's eminently possible for schools to interpret FERPA in a common-sense manner that avoids absurd results.

In the Cruz case, it's nonsensical to say that a person who has admitted shooting 17 people to death has any legally recognizable privacy interest. FERPA or no, police and prosecutors will have ample access to all of the education records they care to see-no court will deny law officials access to those records once a student is in custody and facing trial. And Cruz has no reputation left to protect. Not one person's opinion of him will be lowered by finding out his disciplinary history, so even if FERPA could be interpreted to preclude disclosing his records, that interpretation makes no practical sense.

Federal regulations provide that, even if a FERPA violation is found, the U.S. Department of Education cannot take away a dime of federal money without first issuing a written warning and placing the school on a federal corrective plan. Only if the school refuses to accept the plan can the department then initiate financial penalties. That has never happened. FERPA is a toothless tiger-not an excuse for educational institutions to withhold essential information that's necessary for students and their parents to feel safe.

Whether school officials are doing enough to maintain safety is manifestly the public's concern. Schools know, or certainly should know, that they can say more than they're saying.

It's time for Congress to clarify the statute's definition of "education records" to conform with common sense.

Published in Print: March 21, 2018, as Student Privacy Laws Should Protect Students, Not School Officials

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Student Privacy Laws Have Been Distorted (And That's a Problem)

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Commentary When a deadly or life-threatening crime takes place at an educational institution, the public justifiably asks: Did the school do enough to maintain safety? At such times, "we can't say anything because of student privacy" is a profoundly incorrect answer-legally, morally, and practically.

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Teens social media behavior outside of school is taking over in the classroom.  The usage is disruptive to the academic day and school staff are not prepared with a solution to change the behavior.

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BLOOMINGTON - It can be hard to keep track of the constant tweeting, posting, snapping, liking and pinning done by teens.

"There is a multitude of social media apps teens can access now. It seems they are using something new every five minutes," said Andrea Parker, assistant principal at Bloomington High School. "The key for parents and schools is to stay educated on the new and popular apps."

Concern over teen access to social media has risen after a 13-year-old Virginia girl, Nicole Lovell, left her home in the middle of the night and was killed last week. Lovell supposedly used multiple social media apps as a distraction from being bullied in school. Her alleged killer is 18-year-old Virginia Tech freshman, David Eisenhauer, whom she met through the instant messaging app, Kik.

Text messaging is no longer the only form of communication by smartphone users. Pew Research Center has found that 33 percent of teens ages 13 to 17 use instant messaging apps like Kik and WhatsApp.

"There are many social media sites out there. Some are used for positive activities like connecting with friends. Unfortunately, some of those same sites can be used inappropriately," said Cindy Helmers, assistant superintendent at District 87.

The Pew study also found 71 percent of teens use more than one social media site, with the most popular being Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter and Vine.

With so many apps at their fingertips, teen safety can be hard for schools and parents to monitor.

Most schools have rules when it comes to social media platforms; the technology departments at Unit 5 and District 87 buildings block certain social media websites to limit use in school.

"We're making changes to our policies due to a state law regarding student privacy on social media accounts," said Curt Richardson, Unit 5 director of human resources and district attorney. "The law says we cannot require students to give school officials their account passwords, but we can require the student give access if we are investigating a case of misconduct."

Social media is just as popular in junior high school as it is in high school, said Trevor Chapman, principal at Evans Junior High School.

"We have sent notices to families updating them on new, popular sites and apps, as well as what to look for on these sites," said Chapman. "We have to partner with parents to keep kids safe."

Erin Everly is a licensed clinical social worker at Elliott Counseling in Normal. She said many teens hide their social media accounts from parents because they may be trying to hide a part of their life.

"They could be hiding feelings about a romantic break up, a fight, experimenting with drugs, sexual activity or sharing suggestive pictures," said Everly.

Using social media apps like Kik provides users complete anonymity. Teens are more aggressive with what they say when there is a screen between the victim and themselves, said Everly.

To ensure online safety, Everly says parents can set up parental controls on electronics, ask teens to charge all electronics in the kitchen at night and not allow teens to set passwords on devices.

"Have an open and honest conversation with your teen so they know this is to keep them safe, not to invade their privacy," she said. "Know your teen. Know their friends, schedule, moods and normal behavior. If something seems off, it probably is."

Follow Julia Evelsizer on Twitter: @pg_evelsizer

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Experts urge caution with teens, social media

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BLOOMINGTON - It can be hard to keep track of the constant tweeting, posting, snapping, liking and pinning done by teens. "There is a multitude of social media apps teens can access now. It seems they are using something new every five minutes," said Andrea Parker, assistant principal at Bloomington High School.

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National Association of School Psycologist Academic website

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Leadership Tools About NASP NASP Store Career Center Create an Account Join NASP Login

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Businesswest.com

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Screen Pass

In a nation where the vast majority of adults have a social-media presence, it's not surprising that kids are clamoring to get in on the fun. But for teenagers, and especially the middle-school set, social media comes with its own set of additional traps, often magnifying and broadcasting incidents of peer pressure and bullying. There's no real consensus on when kids should be allowed to use these ubiquitous tools, but experts agree that parents need to be involved in that decision - and well beyond.

Technology moves quickly, Dr. Bruce Waslick said. And young people are much better at keeping up with it than their parents.

"I've raised three kids, and the technology changed a lot from the time my first kid became a teenager to the time my third kid became a teenager," said Waslick, chief of Child Psychiatry at Baystate Medical Center. "Things are moving so fast."

Perhaps the most significant technological shift over the past decade - a seismic cultural shift, really - is the technology that almost 80% of all Americans are carrying in their pockets and purses: the smartphone.

nd make no mistake - it's a tool that teens and tweens crave, particularly for access to the very public online realm of social media. But should they have that access? It's a question doctors, parents, and tech experts have been grappling with for years, and still one without a definitive answer.

"So many kids now have access to smartphones and social media, and part of it can be great," Waslick told BusinessWest. "People get connected to all kinds of information, and social media can be positive, helping kids communicate with each other and make relationships.

"The hard part is, kids are just so young, and they don't know a lot about the world at that point, and they're getting involved in very complex kinds of social-media functions they may not fully understand," he went on, citing pitfalls from magnified self-image issues to cyberbullying. Online predators are another real concern, he said, because of the ease with which they can insinuate themselves into kids' lives.

"In the old days, friends introduced you to friends, and vouched for them. Now, with a couple clicks, people get connected to people all over the country, and the world, with little filtering or regard for what they actually know about the people they're connecting with."

Melanie Hempe, a registered nurse and founder of Families Managing Media, a site that explores the hazards young people face in the online world, told Psychology Today that teenagers and pre-teens have a way of wearing their parents down with their desire to fit in to the Internet culture.

"Maybe because we're exhausted from their constant begging for a phone, or because we think that all their friends have one, or because we want to upgrade ours to the latest model ... we cave. We act on impulse. Our brain seems to regress like theirs, and we give them our old smartphone," she explained. "And with that one little decision comes the world of social-media access - something we haven't thought about and something none of us is prepared for."

And she believes it's a bad decision to give in, particularly before the high-school years. "Because the midbrain is reorganizing itself and risk-taking is high and impulse control is low, I can't imagine a worse time in a child's life to have access to social media than middle school."

Specifically, she said, a tween's underdeveloped frontal cortex can't manage the distraction and temptations that come with social-media use. For example, "a tween's 'more is better' mentality is a dangerous match for social media. Do they really have 1,456 friends? Do they really need to be on it nine hours a day? Social media allows - and encourages - them to overdo their friend connections like they tend to overdo other things in their lives."

It's a legitimate concern, said Dr. Yolanda Chassiakos, who serves on the executive committee of the American Academy of Pediatrics' Council on Communications and Media. She cited a 2016 study showing that three-quarters of teenagers own a smartphone - close to the national average - and 24% of all adolescents report feeling "addicted" to their phone.

"Even parents young enough to be 'digital natives' themselves are worried about how to guide their children in this new digital media world and ensure the risks of media use and overuse are avoided," she wrote, adding that increased sedentary media use usually corresponds to decreased sleep and a greater risk of obesity - as well as the psychological dangers Waslick and others have cited.

"Excessive media use has been associated with challenges such as isolation, victimization, depression, and Internet addiction," she went on. "Unmonitored media use can leave children and teens vulnerable to online predators or allow them to make unwise decisions such as sharing inappropriate texts, videos, or photos."

In other words, it's a minefield. Just like the middle-school years themselves.

Not All Bad News

Waslick was quick to note the ways in which social media can exacerbate the social hazards tweens and teens already face.

"There's a lot of peer pressure, as well as contacts with people posting inappropriate things online, disclosing personal details, getting into fights, a certain amount of cyberbullying," he said.

The public nature of social media can take typical embarrassments and more serious incidents like bullying and magnify them, he added. "Sometimes, kids think when they type something, it's like texting to somebody, but it's being read by so many people. And one-on-one bullying is horrible enough, but bullying in front of large groups of people at the same time can be worse."

However, not everyone who studies this issue comes to the same conclusions. Caroline Knorr is the Parenting editor of Common Sense Media, a website that exists to give parents a window into popular media in order to make good decisions for their kids. And she's not convinced that online networking is the minefield some make it out to be.

"Yes, the risks of social media are real," she said. "But new research is shedding light on the good things that can happen when kids connect, share, and learn online. As a parent, you can help nurture the positive aspects by accepting how important social media is for kids and helping them find ways for it to add real value to their lives."

She identified a few ways in which social media can be a positive force, such as strengthening friendships, offering a sense of belonging, providing genuine support, and helping young people express themselves.

"Online acceptance - whether a kid is interested in an unusual subject that isn't considered 'cool' or is grappling with sexual identity - can validate a marginalized kid," she explained. "Suicidal teens can even get immediate access to quality support online. One example occurred on a Minecraft forum on Reddit when an entire online community used voice-conferencing software to talk a teen out of his decision to commit suicide."

One other positive is the ability to do good, Knorr said. "Twitter, Facebook, and other large social networks expose kids to important issues and people from all over the world. Kids realize they have a voice they didn't have before and are doing everything from crowdfunding for people in need to anonymously tweeting positive thoughts."

One example of positive action using social media is an anti-bullying movement initially launched in Western Mass. that has spread across all 50 states and to more than 50 countries, with celebrities getting into the act. The core of the campaign is using the ubiquitous 'selfie' to spread an anti-bullying message on social-media platforms.

"The social-media effort was started by the kids of Unify," said Edward Zemba, president of Unify Against Bullying, an organization based in East Longmeadow. "It was their way of bringing awareness to the silence of bullying. As parents, we all know that this issue is difficult enough to address when we talk about it. However, when children are left alone to deal with it in silence, things can get far worse."

In January, the kids of Unify set a goal. By the end of the year, they wanted to have 50 celebrities participate in their selfie challenge. "Bullying is about trying to look cool," said Zemba's 14-year-old daughter, Julianna, one of the organization's founders. "If celebrities send a message that bullying isn't OK to kids, they'll listen differently than if it's from their parents, or even friends."

With well-known figures such as Chris Evans, Zach Braff, and actors from series such as The Walking Dead, Game of Thrones, and Stranger Things participating, they are well on their way. Even athletes from NASCAR, the WWE, the Boston Bruins, the WNBA, and New England Patriots cheerleaders have posted selfies.

Chassiakos agrees that new media can provide a host of benefits and opportunities to grow in a positive way. "Because these platforms are interactive, children and teens can use them to learn, connect, and communicate with family and friends, and engage in creative activities. The key is moderation and balance; media use should not replace or displace other activities that promote healthy development and wellness."

Parental Guidance Suggested

Unfortunately, Waslick said, there really is no hard-and-fast age when kids are ready to dive into social media.

"There may be kids who can appropriately use social media at an earlier age, although I don't recommend that," he told BusinessWest. "Others may be more fragile and shouldn't be exposed to social media until they're older, more mature, and able to handle certain things. I think parents should weigh this on an individual basis and then monitor how it's going."

That often includes insisting being a part of the teen's social-media network - a Facebook friend, for example - even though they may not be crazy about the idea.

"Parents can be valuable 'media mentors,' guiding older children and teens on practicing online citizenship and safety, treating others with respect, avoiding cyberbullying and sexting, being wary of online solicitation, and avoiding communications that can compromise personal privacy and safety," Chassiakos noted. "Parents also should be good role models by balancing their own media use with other activities."

After all, Waslick said, even the best-intentioned kids end up with bad experiences online - not just bullying, but situations as simple as finding out about a party they weren't invited to, or seeing a romantic interest cozy up to someone else online.

"These are normal things that happen during the middle-school years, but on social media, it plays out differently - more publicly," he said. "While it's an individual, case-by-case thing, parents should have a say in whether their kids are ready for it, and whether they understand what they're getting involved in."

He compared parental guidance in social media like learning how to drive. "That's what a learning permit is for, so parents can supervise them while they learn to drive. I think getting involved in social media is like that; parental supervision is a good idea."

Hempe insists that social media is an entertainment technology that doesn't help kids raise their intelligence, develop socially in a healthy way, or prepare them for real life or a future job. She also feels it replaces learning the 'work' of dealing face-to-face with their peers, and often frays connections with family and real-world friends.

If they must partake, she suggests a few tips, including delaying access, following their kids' accounts, allowing computer use only on large screens in the home, setting time limits for use, and planning non-tech family time together - in other words, replacing the screen with something positive and healthy.

"Don't give that smartphone all the power in your home," she said. "Help tweens choose healthier forms of entertainment. They have the rest of their life to be entertained by social media, but only a limited time with you."

That's advice few parents would argue against - no matter how much they trust their kids.
Joseph Bednar can be reached at bednar@businesswest.com

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Should Young Teens Be Active in Social Media?

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In a nation where the vast majority of adults have a social-media presence, it's not surprising that kids are clamoring to get in on the fun. But for teenagers, and especially the middle-school set, social media comes with its own set of additional traps, often magnifying and broadcasting incidents of peer pressure and bullying.

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The American Academy of Pedicatrics Academic Website

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Abstract

Using social media Web sites is among the most common activity of today's children and adolescents. Any Web site that allows social interaction is considered a social media site, including social networking sites such as Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter; gaming sites and virtual worlds such as Club Penguin, Second Life, and the Sims; video sites such as YouTube; and blogs. Such sites offer today's youth a portal for entertainment and communication and have grown exponentially in recent years. For this reason, it is important that parents become aware of the nature of social media sites, given that not all of them are healthy environments for children and adolescents. Pediatricians are in a unique position to help families understand these sites and to encourage healthy use and urge parents to monitor for potential problems with cyberbullying, "Facebook depression," sexting, and exposure to inappropriate content.

SOCIAL MEDIA USE BY TWEENS AND TEENS

Engaging in various forms of social media is a routine activity that research has shown to benefit children and adolescents by enhancing communication, social connection, and even technical skills. Social media sites such as Facebook and MySpace offer multiple daily opportunities for connecting with friends, classmates, and people with shared interests. During the last 5 years, the number of preadolescents and adolescents using such sites has increased dramatically. According to a recent poll, 22% of teenagers log on to their favorite social media site more than 10 times a day, and more than half of adolescents log on to a social media site more than once a day. Seventy-five percent of teenagers now own cell phones, and 25% use them for social media, 54% use them for texting, and 24% use them for instant messaging. Thus, a large part of this generation's social and emotional development is occurring while on the Internet and on cell phones.

Because of their limited capacity for self-regulation and susceptibility to peer pressure, children and adolescents are at some risk as they navigate and experiment with social media. Recent research indicates that there are frequent online expressions of offline behaviors, such as bullying, clique-forming, and sexual experimentation, that have introduced problems such as cyberbullying, privacy issues, and "sexting." Other problems that merit awareness include Internet addiction and concurrent sleep deprivation.

Many parents today use technology incredibly well and feel comfortable and capable with the programs and online venues that their children and adolescents are using. Nevertheless, some parents may find it difficult to relate to their digitally savvy youngsters online for several reasons. Such parents may lack a basic understanding of these new forms of socialization, which are integral to their children's lives. They frequently do not have the technical abilities or time needed to keep pace with their children in the ever-changing Internet landscape. In addition, these parents often lack a basic understanding that kids' online lives are an extension of their offline lives. The end result is often a knowledge and technical skill gap between parents and youth, which creates a disconnect in how these parents and youth participate in the online world together.

BENEFITS OF CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS USING SOCIAL MEDIA

RISKS OF YOUTH USING SOCIAL MEDIA

Using social media becomes a risk to adolescents more often than most adults realize. Most risks fall into the following categories: peer-to-peer; inappropriate content; lack of understanding of online privacy issues; and outside influences of third-party advertising groups.

PRIVACY CONCERNS AND THE DIGITAL FOOTPRINT

The main risk to preadolescents and adolescents online today are risks from each other, risks of improper use of technology, lack of privacy, sharing too much information, or posting false information about themselves or others. These types of behavior put their privacy at risk.

When Internet users visit various Web sites, they can leave behind evidence of which sites they have visited. This collective, ongoing record of one's Web activity is called the "digital footprint." One of the biggest threats to young people on social media sites is to their digital footprint and future reputations. Preadolescents and adolescents who lack an awareness of privacy issues often post inappropriate messages, pictures, and videos without understanding that "what goes online stays online." As a result, future jobs and college acceptance may be put into jeopardy by inexperienced and rash clicks of the mouse. Indiscriminate Internet activity also can make children and teenagers easier for marketers and fraudsters to target.

INFLUENCE OF ADVERTISEMENTS ON BUYING

Many social media sites display multiple advertisements such as banner ads, behavior ads (ads that target people on the basis of their Web-browsing behavior), and demographic-based ads (ads that target people on the basis of a specific factor such as age, gender, education, marital status, etc) that influence not only the buying tendencies of preadolescents and adolescents but also their views of what is normal. It is particularly important for parents to be aware of the behavioral ads, because they are common on social media sites and operate by gathering information on the person using a site and then targeting that person's profile to influence purchasing decisions. Such powerful influences start as soon as children begin to go online and post. Many online venues are now prohibiting ads on sites where children and adolescents are participating. It is important to educate parents, children, and adolescents about this practice so that children can develop into media-literate consumers and understand how advertisements can easily manipulate them.

ON TOO YOUNG: MIXED MESSAGES FROM PARENTS AND THE LAW

Many parents are aware that 13 years is the minimum age for most social media sites but do not understand why. There are 2 major reasons. First, 13 years is the age set by Congress in the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), which prohibits Web sites from collecting information on children younger than 13 years without parental permission. Second, the official terms of service for many popular sites now mirror the COPPA regulations and state that 13 years is the minimum age to sign up and have a profile. This is the minimum age to sign on to sites such as Facebook and MySpace. There are many sites for preadolescents and younger children that do not have such an age restriction, such as Disney sites, Club Penguin, and others.

It is important that parents evaluate the sites on which their child wishes to participate to be sure that the site is appropriate for that child's age. For sites without age stipulations, however, there is room for negotiation, and parents should evaluate the situation via active conversation with their preadolescents and adolescents.

In general, if a Web site specifies a minimum age for use in its terms of service, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) encourages that age to be respected. Falsifying age has become common practice by some preadolescents and some parents. Parents must be thoughtful about this practice to be sure that they are not sending mixed messages about lying and that online safety is always the main message being emphasized.

THE ROLE OF PEDIATRICIANS

Pediatricians are in a unique position to educate families about both the complexities of the digital world and the challenging social and health issues that online youth experience by encouraging families to face the core issues of bullying, popularity and status, depression and social anxiety, risk-taking, and sexual development. Pediatricians can help parents understand that what is happening online is an extension of these underlying issues and that parents can be most helpful if they understand the core issues and have strategies for dealing with them whether they take place online, offline, or, increasingly, both.

Some specific ways in which pediatricians can assist parents include:

1. Advise parents to talk to their children and adolescents about their online use and the specific issues that today's online kids face.

2. Advise parents to work on their own participation gap in their homes by becoming better educated about the many technologies their youngsters are using.

3. Discuss with families the need for a family online-use plan that involves regular family meetings to discuss online topics and checks of privacy settings and online profiles for inappropriate posts. The emphasis should be on citizenship and healthy behavior and not punitive action, unless truly warranted.

4. Discuss with parents the importance of supervising online activities via active participation and communication, as opposed to remote monitoring with a "net-nanny" program (software used to monitor the Internet in the absence of parents).

In addition, the AAP encourages all pediatricians to increase their knowledge of digital technology so that they can have a more educated frame of reference for the tools their patients and families are using, which will aid in providing timely anticipatory media guidance as well as diagnosing media-related issues should they arise.

To assist families in discussing the more challenging issues that kids face online, pediatricians can provide families with reputable online resources, including "Social Media and Sexting Tips" from the AAP ( www.aap.org/advocacy/releases/june09socialmedia.htm), the AAP Internet safety site ( http://safetynet.aap.org), and the AAP public education site, HealthyChildren.org ( www.healthychildren.org/english/search/pages/results.aspx?Type=Keyword&Keyword=Internet+safety), and encourage parents to discuss these resources with their children. Pediatricians with Web sites or blogs may wish to create a section with resources for parents and children about these issues and may suggest a list of or links to social media sites that are appropriate for the different age groups. In this way, pediatricians can support the efforts of parents to engage and educate youth to be responsible, sensible, and respectful digital citizens.

Lead Authors

Gwenn Schurgin O'Keeffe, MD

Kathleen Clarke-Pearson, MD

Council on Communications and Media Executive Committee, 2010-2011

Deborah Ann Mulligan, MD, Chairperson

Tanya Remer Altmann, MD

Ari Brown, MD

Dimitri A. Christakis, MD

Kathleen Clarke-Pearson, MD

Holly Lee Falik, MD

David L. Hill, MD

Marjorie J. Hogan, MD

Alanna Estin Levine, MD

Kathleen G. Nelson, MD

Gwenn Schurgin O'Keeffe, MD

Past Executive Committee Members

Benard P. Dreyer, MD

Gilbert L. Fuld, MD, Immediate Past Chairperson

Victor C. Strasburger, MD

Liaisons

Michael Brody, MD

American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry

Brian Wilcox, PhD

American Psychological Association

Staff

Gina Ley Steiner

Veronica Laude Noland, cocm{at}aap.org

Footnotes

This document is copyrighted and is property of the American Academy of Pediatrics and its Board of Directors. All authors have filed conflict of interest statements with the American Academy of Pediatrics. Any conflicts have been resolved through a process approved by the Board of Directors. The American Academy of Pediatrics has neither solicited nor accepted any commercial involvement in the development of the content of this publication.

The guidance in this report does not indicate an exclusive course of treatment or serve as a standard of medical care. Variations, taking into account individual circumstances, may be appropriate.

All clinical reports from the American Academy of Pediatrics automatically expire 5 years after publication unless reaffirmed,revised, or retired at or before that time.

View Abstract

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The Impact of Social Media on Children, Adolescents, and Families

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Using social media Web sites is among the most common activity of today's children and adolescents. Any Web site that allows social interaction is considered a social media site, including social networking sites such as Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter; gaming sites and virtual worlds such as Club Penguin, Second Life, and the Sims; video sites such as YouTube; and blogs.

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In 2012, 90% of the teens reported using some type of social media (NASP, 2016).  According to recent polls 22% of teens log on to social media 10 times a day (AAP, 2011).  Technology is here to stay and the students of today are totally immersed in the use of technology.  There are many positives to the use of social media as well as the negatives.

Social media is a tool that kids crave but often times do not understand the pitfalls that come with the social media scene (Bednar, 2017).  Their fontal cortex is not yet developed and this is a cause for teens to be distracted and lack of manageability of temptations when dealing with social media.
The positive about social media is that students are connected one another about homework and group projects.  The use of social media is a way for the shy teen to initiate conversation until the face to face conversation is more comfortable (AAP, 2011).

The law says that students should be 13 or older to have an account on these social media sites.  One reason there is an age restriction is because Congress limited the age that websites can collect information on children without parent permission.  Parents are not managing their kids and allowing them to have an account anyway.

Students under the age of 13 having social media accounts and using them at school during the day is hindering the academic day.  Students are sending inappropriate pictures of themselves to another student thinking the picture will not be shared, but instead the picture is shared with an entire Instagram group. These behaviors are happening during school hours. The social media allows for disagreements to continue throughout the school day and for other students to add their thoughts to the conversation. Administrators and staff need to come up with a solution to the problem.

References

Bednar, J. (2017, November 28). Should young teens be active in social media? - BusinessWest. Retrieved June 10, 2018, from http://businesswest.com/blog/young-teens-active-social-media/

National Association of Psychologists (2016). Social media and school crises. Retrieved June 10, 2018, from https://www.nasponline.org/resources-and-publications/resources/school-safety-and-crisis/social-media-and-school-crises

The American Academy of Pedicatrics, (2011). Social media and school crises. Retrieved June 10, 2018, from https://www.nasponline.org/resources-and-publications/resources/school-safety-and-crisis/social-media-and-school-crises