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Drug use among teens occurs at higher rates than most people realize, with underage alcohol use accounting for a significant portion of our total nationwide alcohol use.

We break down stats and information on how and why teens use drugs as well as how to talk to teens about drug use.

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Boca Recovery Center - Your Path to Recovery

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Drug use among teens occurs at higher rates than most people realize, with underage alcohol use accounting for a significant portion of our total nationwide alcohol use.

Below, we break down stats and information on how and why teens use drugs as well as how to talk to teens about drug use.

In 2019, the rate of reported illicit drug use among teens was as high as 38 percent among 12th graders, 31 percent among 10th graders, and 15.6 percent among 8th graders.

According to that same survey, in more recent years, there has been a decrease in the rate of reported drug use. There was a sharp decrease reported in 2021, although how much of this can be attributed to a cultural shift versus the highly unusual circumstances teens living through the COVID-19 pandemic experienced isn't clear.

Regardless, as much as one-tenth of alcohol consumed in the U.S. is estimated to have been consumed by people between the ages of 12 to 20. This is despite the fact that it is illegal for those under the age of 21 to drink alcohol (barring extremely limited circumstances, such as a small amount for certain religious ceremonies, which even then varies by state).

Notable risk factors for teen drug use include the following:

Low grades or academic failure

Being a victim of bullying and similar harassment

Overly permissive or absent parents

Frequent drug use, including alcohol use, among family members

Living in a community with a high tolerance for youth drug use

Attending schools with inconsistent or lax enforcement of drug laws

Misunderstanding or misbelief that drug use carries little risk

Many of these risk factors frequently overlap. For example, a teen who is bullied or failing in school will often also have low self-esteem.

Importantly, none of these risk factors that a teen will use drugs. With the right support, discussed in more detail later, an adult can help a teen avoid drug abuse or stop drug abuse if they're currently engaging in it.

Additionally, one more obvious risk factor is how easily a teen may be able to access drugs. A teen can gain access to drugs through their family, friends, or even from stores that intentionally or accidentally sell drugs (most frequently alcohol or cigarettes) to minors.

When discussing why teens use drugs, it's important to acknowledge that teens are individuals.

Their backgrounds and reasons for making certain choices can be quite diverse and that makes it difficult to make a "complete" list of why a teen might use illicit substances. However, a few broad reasons are generally accepted to be the primary reasons a teenager might use drugs. Here are some of them:

Adults shouldn't underestimate the social pressures teens often feel to fit in with the group they perceive to be most cool or popular. If the groups a teen most identifies with and wants to belong in frequently engage in drug use, they're going to feel pressured to also engage in drug use. They'll also listen more closely to how those groups describe drug use, even if that information is inaccurate or heavily biased.

Teens often have less control over whom they can associate with. If they're ostracized for not engaging in drug use, teens can't necessarily stop interacting with those people. If the people making negative comments are in the same school as the teenager, for example, they may have no choice but to at least sometimes hear their comments, even if they still make the choice to avoid drugs.

Many drugs create a sense of calm and euphoria in a user. This is true of alcohol, marijuana, opioids, and many other drugs.

Even if drug use has serious negative consequences, adults can't ignore the reality that drug use can feel good in the moment. This is important because it's one of the main arguments those in a teen's social circle will likely make in favor of drug use.

Similar to the above, some teens abuse drugs as a way to cope with difficulties in their life. These difficulties can include anxiety and depression as a result of bullying or mental health issues related to severe situations, such as the lasting effects of trauma or loss. These issues can put a teen at significant risk of drug abuse if ignored. Without proper treatment, trauma, loss, bullying, and grief can sharply reduce a person's quality of life. Similarly, depression and anxiety can be devastating without the right help. Therapy and potentially medication are recommended.

Some teens may choose to do drugs just to experiment and experience something they haven't before. Some drugs, such as psychedelics, are often used for this purpose, warping how a person perceives the world around them and creating experiences a person cannot experience sober. This is one reason having a direct conversation about drugs is important with teens. You can reduce the mystique around them and make sure a teen gets accurate information on different substances they may eventually get access to.

If a teen feels the adults in their life are too controlling or refuse to pay attention to them, they may feel a strong desire to rebel. This may involve intentionally acting in ways they know those adults will disapprove of. This rebellion can take many forms, but drug abuse is one of them.

If you suspect your child is doing drugs, you may feel panicked. Here are some steps to take:

Call a professional. This is especially important if you believe they may be struggling with a substance use disorder (SUD). A reputable mental health professional can help them with any mental health problems you may not be equipped to handle. Stick to addiction specialists, such as physicians and therapists. These professionals can help you assess the situation and determine next steps. When possible, avoid calling law enforcement when working to stop a teen's drug abuse. For example, if your child is a serious, active threat to your safety or the safety of other people, you may decide police intervention is necessary. However, this is a very rare necessity and will represent a fundamental and often permanent shift in your parent-child relationship. The current American legal system is extremely limited in its ability to help people struggling with drug abuse, and the legal consequences of being caught with drugs can often be long-lasting and highly damaging. Your child will be better served by getting them into appropriate addiction treatment if necessary.

Set boundaries. While you don't want to be overly confrontational, it is important to set reasonable boundaries. For example, it is reasonable not to allow a teenager to go to parties or hang out with friends you know give them access to drugs. If you believe punishments may be necessary, such as a result of learning your child has stolen from you or broken an established rule, be sure to read up on healthy discipline strategies before choosing the consequences for their actions. This can help you make sure you don't seriously damage your relationship with your teen and are instead guiding them toward healthier patterns of behavior.

It's important to talk to teens in your life about drugs. Early intervention can make a big difference, helping to prevent drug abuse issues. Here are some tips:

Don't lecture. This starts by developing a healthy line of communication rather than engaging in the stereotypical lecturing approach or by speaking so vaguely about drug use that you don't meaningfully convey what a teen ought to know.

Don't pretend to know everything. You also admit when you don't know something. Write down the question that came up, research the topic, and answer it in the next few days with a full, accurate answer.

Get help. If this isn't the first conversation with your teen and they have repeatedly used drugs, it's likely time to see help. A therapist, physician, interventionist, or addiction specialist can help you create a plan for how to help your teen get the care they need to get well.

Teens who are abusing drugs can benefit from a variety of mental health treatment options. It's important to remember that these aren't "punishments" for a teen and should never be framed as such.

Mental health care: If a teen might benefit from talking to a mental health professional, they should be encouraged to at least try it. Highlight that even mentally healthy people benefit from therapy. Talking to a mental health professional can help them better resist stressors and identify potential issues before they start to significantly impact their life.

These resources can help you learn more about teen drug abuse and how to prevent it:

Get Smart About Drugs: The DEA created this website, which offers a number of valuable resources about helping your family avoid drug abuse. You'll find a list of pages that can help you access a pool of valuable mental health resources, including those specifically aimed at helping adults and teens with a substance abuse problem.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: The CDC also offers a number of useful resources for adults looking to research teen drug use. If you want to learn about the specifics of a given drug, they also have several pages explaining how different substances can affect the body. These government resources make an excellent starting point as the information they contain is generally up-to-date and accurate, often accompanied by various stats and important details cited directly from pieces of reputable academic and scientific research.

SAMHSA Helpline: For adults or teens who feel lost about what to do about their own or a loved one's drug use, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services (SAMHSA) Helpline can be a good starting point. Available at 1-800-662-HELP (4357), this is a free and confidential helpline meant to provide people with access to resources on mental health and substance use disorders. It's a 24/7 line, and it's available in both English and Spanish.

Whether your teen is actively abusing drugs or you're just starting the conversation in hopes of preventing future drug abuse, your support and communication are essential to your teen's long-term health and well-being.

Continue to keep the conversation open with your teen, so they know they can come to you if a problem arises. This accessibility will serve them in all tenants of life, not just substance abuse prevention and recovery.

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Drug use among teens occurs at higher rates than most people realize, with underage alcohol use accounting for a significant portion of our total nationwide alcohol use. Below, we break down stats and information on how and why teens use drugs as well as how to talk to teens about drug use.

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Thank you to Kristie L. and Miss Martin’s Summer STEM Club for this awesome submission!

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Guide to Fun Experimental Science Projects

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"Toontastic 3D is a playful storytelling app that scaffolds the creative writing process and empowers kids to create their own animated cartoons."

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Google Slides + Student Engagement = Success!

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Pear Deck for Google Slides is the #1 Slides Add-on, making it effortless for educators to add interactive questions and formative assessments to their presentations.

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"If you imagine less, less will be what you undoubtedly deserve," Debbie Millman counseled in one of the best commencement speeches ever given, urging: "Do what you love, and don't stop until you get what you love. Work as hard as you can, imagine immensities..." Far from Pollyanna platitude, this advice actually reflects what modern psychology knows about how belief systems about our own abilities and potential fuel our behavior and predict our success. Much of that understanding stems from the work of Stanford psychologist Carol Dweck, synthesized in her remarkably insightful Mindset: The New Psychology of Success (public library) - an inquiry into the power of our beliefs, both conscious and unconscious, and how changing even the simplest of them can have profound impact on nearly every aspect of our lives.

One of the most basic beliefs we carry about ourselves, Dweck found in her research, has to do with how we view and inhabit what we consider to be our personality. A "fixed mindset" assumes that our character, intelligence, and creative ability are static givens which we can't change in any meaningful way, and success is the affirmation of that inherent intelligence, an assessment of how those givens measure up against an equally fixed standard; striving for success and avoiding failure at all costs become a way of maintaining the sense of being smart or skilled. A "growth mindset," on the other hand, thrives on challenge and sees failure not as evidence of unintelligence but as a heartening springboard for growth and for stretching our existing abilities. Out of these two mindsets, which we manifest from a very early age, springs a great deal of our behavior, our relationship with success and failure in both professional and personal contexts, and ultimately our capacity for happiness.

The consequences of believing that intelligence and personality can be developed rather than being immutably engrained traits, Dweck found in her two decades of research with both children and adults, are remarkable. She writes:

For twenty years, my research has shown that the view you adopt for yourself profoundly affects the way you lead your life. It can determine whether you become the person you want to be and whether you accomplish the things you value. How does this happen? How can a simple belief have the power to transform your psychology and, as a result, your life?

Believing that your qualities are carved in stone - the fixed mindset - creates an urgency to prove yourself over and over. If you have only a certain amount of intelligence, a certain personality, and a certain moral character - well, then you'd better prove that you have a healthy dose of them. It simply wouldn't do to look or feel deficient in these most basic characteristics.

[...]

I've seen so many people with this one consuming goal of proving themselves - in the classroom, in their careers, and in their relationships. Every situation calls for a confirmation of their intelligence, personality, or character. Every situation is evaluated: Will I succeed or fail? Will I look smart or dumb? Will I be accepted or rejected? Will I feel like a winner or a loser? . . .

There's another mindset in which these traits are not simply a hand you're dealt and have to live with, always trying to convince yourself and others that you have a royal flush when you're secretly worried it's a pair of tens. In this mindset, the hand you're dealt is just the starting point for development. This growth mindset is based on the belief that your basic qualities are things you can cultivate through your efforts. Although people may differ in every which way - in their initial talents and aptitudes, interests, or temperaments - everyone can change and grow through application and experience.

Do people with this mindset believe that anyone can be anything, that anyone with proper motivation or education can become Einstein or Beethoven? No, but they believe that a person's true potential is unknown (and unknowable); that it's impossible to foresee what can be accomplished with years of passion, toil, and training.

At the heart of what makes the "growth mindset" so winsome, Dweck found, is that it creates a passion for learning rather than a hunger for approval. Its hallmark is the conviction that human qualities like intelligence and creativity, and even relational capacities like love and friendship, can be cultivated through effort and deliberate practice. Not only are people with this mindset not discouraged by failure, but they don't actually see themselves as failing in those situations - they see themselves as learning. Dweck writes:

Why waste time proving over and over how great you are, when you could be getting better? Why hide deficiencies instead of overcoming them? Why look for friends or partners who will just shore up your self-esteem instead of ones who will also challenge you to grow? And why seek out the tried and true, instead of experiences that will stretch you? The passion for stretching yourself and sticking to it, even (or especially) when it's not going well, is the hallmark of the growth mindset. This is the mindset that allows people to thrive during some of the most challenging times in their lives.

This idea, of course, isn't new - if anything, it's the fodder of self-help books and vacant "You can do anything!" platitudes. What makes Dweck's work different, however, is that it is rooted in rigorous research on how the mind - especially the developing mind - works, identifying not only the core drivers of those mindsets but also how they can be reprogrammed.

Dweck and her team found that people with the fixed mindset see risk and effort as potential giveaways of their inadequacies, revealing that they come up short in some way. But the relationship between mindset and effort is a two-way street:

It's not just that some people happen to recognize the value of challenging themselves and the importance of effort. Our research has shown that this comes directly from the growth mindset. When we teach people the growth mindset, with its focus on development, these ideas about challenge and effort follow. . . .

As you begin to understand the fixed and growth mindsets, you will see exactly how one thing leads to another-how a belief that your qualities are carved in stone leads to a host of thoughts and actions, and how a belief that your qualities can be cultivated leads to a host of different thoughts and actions, taking you down an entirely different road.

[...]

The mindsets change what people strive for and what they see as success. . . they change the definition, significance, and impact of failure. . . they change the deepest meaning of effort.

Dweck cites a poll of 143 creativity researchers, who concurred that the number-one trait underpinning creative achievement is precisely the kind of resilience and fail-forward perseverance attributed to the growth mindset. She writes:

When you enter a mindset, you enter a new world. In one world - the world of fixed traits - success is about proving you're smart or talented. Validating yourself. In the other - the world of changing qualities - it's about stretching yourself to learn something new. Developing yourself.

In one world, failure is about having a setback. Getting a bad grade. Losing a tournament. Getting fired. Getting rejected. It means you're not smart or talented. In the other world, failure is about not growing. Not reaching for the things you value. It means you're not fulfilling your potential.

In one world, effort is a bad thing. It, like failure, means you're not smart or talented. If you were, you wouldn't need effort. In the other world, effort is what makes you smart or talented.

But her most remarkable research, which has informed present theories of why presence is more important than praise in teaching children to cultivate a healthy relationship with achievement, explores how these mindsets are born - they form, it turns out, very early in life. In one seminal study, Dweck and her colleagues offered four-year-olds a choice: They could either redo an easy jigsaw puzzle, or try a harder one. Even these young children conformed to the characteristics of one of the two mindsets - those with "fixed" mentality stayed on the safe side, choosing the easier puzzles that would affirm their existing ability, articulating to the researchers their belief that smart kids don't make mistakes; those with the "growth" mindset thought it an odd choice to begin with, perplexed why anyone would want to do the same puzzle over and over if they aren't learning anything new. In other words, the fixed-mindset kids wanted to make sure they succeeded in order to seem smart, whereas the growth-mindset ones wanted to stretch themselves, for their definition of success was about becoming smarter.

Dweck quotes one seventh-grade girl, who captured the difference beautifully:

I think intelligence is something you have to work for ... it isn't just given to you.... Most kids, if they're not sure of an answer, will not raise their hand to answer the question. But what I usually do is raise my hand, because if I'm wrong, then my mistake will be corrected. Or I will raise my hand and say, 'How would this be solved?' or 'I don't get this. Can you help me?' Just by doing that I'm increasing my intelligence.

Things got even more interesting when Dweck brought people into Columbia's brain-wave lab to study how their brains behaved as they answered difficult questions and received feedback. What she found was that those with a fixed mindset were only interested in hearing feedback that reflected directly on their present ability, but tuned out information that could help them learn and improve. They even showed no interest in hearing the right answer when they had gotten a question wrong, because they had already filed it away in the failure category. Those with a growth mindset, on the other hand, were keenly attentive to information that could help them expand their existing knowledge and skill, regardless of whether they'd gotten the question right or wrong - in other words, their priority was learning, not the binary trap of success and failure.

These findings are especially important in education and how we, as a culture, assess intelligence. In another study of hundreds of students, mostly adolescents, Dweck and her colleagues gave each ten fairly challenging problems from a nonverbal IQ test, then praised the student for his or her performance - most had done pretty well. But they offered two types of praise: Some students were told "Wow, you got [X many] right. That's a really good score. You must be smart at this," while others, "Wow, you got [X many] right. That's a really good score. You must have worked really hard." In other words, some were praised for ability and others for effort. The findings, at this point, are unsurprising yet jarring:

The ability praise pushed students right into the fixed mindset, and they showed all the signs of it, too: When we gave them a choice, they rejected a challenging new task that they could learn from. They didn't want to do anything that could expose their flaws and call into question their talent.

[...]

In contrast, when students were praised for effort, 90 percent of them wanted the challenging new task that they could learn from.

The most interesting part, however, is what happened next: Dweck and her colleagues gave the students a subsequent set of harder problems, on which the students didn't do so well. Suddenly, the ability-praised kids thought they weren't so smart or gifted after all. Dweck puts it poignantly:

If success had meant they were intelligent, then less-than-success meant they were deficient.

But for the effort-praised kids, the difficulty was simply an indication that they had to put in more effort, not a sign of failure or a reflection of their poor intellect. Perhaps most importantly, the two mindsets also impacted the kids' level of enjoyment - everyone enjoyed the first round of easier questions, which most kids got right, but as soon as the questions got more challenging, the ability-praised kids no longer had any fun, while the effort-praised ones not only still enjoyed the problems but even said that the more challenging, the more fun. The latter also had significant improvements in their performance as the problems got harder, while the former kept getting worse and worse, as if discouraged by their own success-or-failure mindset.

It gets better - or worse, depending on how we look at it: The most unsettling finding came after the IQ questions were completed, when the researchers asked the kids to write private letters to their peers relaying the experience, including a space for reporting their scores on the problems. To Dweck's devastation, the most toxic byproduct of the fixed mindset turned out to be dishonesty: Forty percent of the ability-praised kids lied about their scores, inflating them to look more successful. She laments:

In the fixed mindset, imperfections are shameful - especially if you're talented - so they lied them away. What's so alarming is that we took ordinary children and made them into liars, simply by telling them they were smart.

This illustrates the key difference between the two mindsets - for those with a growth one, "personal success is when you work your hardest to become your best," whereas for those with a fixed one, "success is about establishing their superiority, pure and simple. Being that somebody who is worthier than the nobodies." For the latter, setbacks are a sentence and a label. For the former, they're motivating, informative input - a wakeup call.

But one of the most profound applications of this insight has to do not with business or education but with love. Dweck found that people exhibited the same dichotomy of dispositions in their personal relationships: Those with a fixed mindset believed their ideal mate would put them on a pedestal and make them feel perfect, like "the god of a one-person religion," whereas those with the growth mindset preferred a partner who would recognize their faults and lovingly help improve them, someone who would encourage them to learn new things and become a better person. The fixed mindset, it turns out, is at the root of many of our most toxic cultural myths about "true love." Dweck writes:

The growth mindset says all of these things can be developed. All - you, your partner, and the relationship - are capable of growth and change.

In the fixed mindset, the ideal is instant, perfect, and perpetual compatibility. Like it was meant to be. Like riding off into the sunset. Like "they lived happily ever after."

[...]

One problem is that people with the fixed mindset expect everything good to happen automatically. It's not that the partners will work to help each other solve their problems or gain skills. It's that this will magically occur through their love, sort of the way it happened to Sleeping Beauty, whose coma was cured by her prince's kiss, or to Cinderella, whose miserable life was suddenly transformed by her prince.

This also applies to the myth of mind-reading, where the fixed mindset believes that an ideal couple should be able to read each other's minds and finish each other's sentences. She cites a study that invited people to talk about their relationships:

Those with the fixed mindset felt threatened and hostile after talking about even minor discrepancies in how they and their partner saw their relationship. Even a minor discrepancy threatened their belief that they shared all of each other's views.

But most destructive of all relationship myths is the belief that if it requires work, something is terribly wrong and that any discrepancy of opinions or preferences is indicative of character flaws on behalf of one's partner. Dweck offers a reality check:

Just as there are no great achievements without setbacks, there are no great relationships without conflicts and problems along the way.

When people with a fixed mindset talk about their conflicts, they assign blame. Sometimes they blame themselves, but often they blame their partner. And they assign blame to a trait - a character flaw.

But it doesn't end there. When people blame their partner's personality for the problem, they feel anger and disgust toward them.

And it barrels on: Since the problem comes from fixed traits, it can't be solved. So once people with the fixed mindset see flaws in their partners, they become contemptuous of them and dissatisfied with the whole relationship.

Those with the growth mindset, on the other hand, can acknowledge their partners' imperfections, without assigning blame, and still feel that they have a fulfilling relationship. They see conflicts as problems of communication, not of personality or character. This dynamic holds true as much in romantic partnerships as in friendship and even in people's relationships with their parents. Dweck summarizes her findings:

When people embark on a relationship, they encounter a partner who is different from them, and they haven't learned how to deal with the differences. In a good relationship, people develop these skills and, as they do, both partners grow and the relationship deepens. But for this to happen, people need to feel they're on the same side. . . . As an atmosphere of trust developed, they [become] vitally interested in each other's development.

What it all comes down to is that a mindset is an interpretative process that tells us what is going on around us. In the fixed mindset, that process is scored by an internal monologue of constant judging and evaluation, using every piece of information as evidence either for or against such assessments as whether you're a good person, whether your partner is selfish, or whether you are better than the person next to you. In a growth mindset, on the other hand, the internal monologue is not one of judgment but one of voracious appetite for learning, constantly seeking out the kind of input that you can metabolize into learning and constructive action.

In the rest of Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, Dweck goes on to explore how these fundamental mindsets form, what their defining characteristics are in different contexts of life, and how we can rewire our cognitive habits to adopt the much more fruitful and nourishing growth mindset.
Public domain photographs via Flickr Commons

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Fixed vs. Growth: The Two Basic Mindsets That Shape Our Lives

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"If you imagine less, less will be what you undoubtedly deserve," Debbie Millman counseled in one of the best commencement speeches ever given, urging: "Do what you love, and don't stop until you get what you love. Work as hard as you can, imagine immensities..."

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"Mindfulness is the basic human ability to be fully present, aware of where we are and what we’re doing, and not overly reactive or overwhelmed by what’s going on around us."

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Mindfulness. It's a pretty straightforward word. It suggests that the mind is fully attending to what's happening, to what you're doing, to the space you're moving through. That might seem trivial, except for the annoying fact that we so often veer from the matter at hand. Our mind takes flight, we lose touch with our body, and pretty soon we're engrossed in obsessive thoughts about something that just happened or fretting about the future. And that makes us anxious.

Mindfulness is the basic human ability to be fully present, aware of where we are and what we're doing, and not overly reactive or overwhelmed by what's going on around us.

Yet no matter how far we drift away, mindfulness is right there to snap us back to where we are and what we're doing and feeling. If you want to know what mindfulness is, it's best to try it for a while. Since it's hard to nail down in words, you will find slight variations in the meaning in books, websites, audio, and video.

Mindfulness is the basic human ability to be fully present, aware of where we are and what we're doing, and not overly reactive or overwhelmed by what's going on around us.

Mindfulness is a quality that every human being already possesses, it's not something you have to conjure up, you just have to learn how to access it.

The Types of Mindfulness Practice

While mindfulness is innate, it can be cultivated through proven techniques. Here are some examples:

1. Seated, walking, standing, and moving meditation (it's also possible lying down but often leads to sleep);

2. Short pauses we insert into everyday life;

3. Merging meditation practice with other activities, such as yoga or sports.

The Benefits of Mindfulness Practice:

When we meditate it doesn't help to fixate on the benefits, but rather to just do the practice, and yet there are benefits or no one would do it.

When we're mindful, we reduce stress, enhance performance, gain insight and awareness through observing our own mind, and increase our attention to others' well-being.

Mindfulness meditation gives us a time in our lives when we can suspend judgment and unleash our natural curiosity about the workings of the mind, approaching our experience with warmth and kindness -to ourselves and others.

8 Facts About Mindfulness:

1. Mindfulness is not obscure or exotic. It's familiar to us because it's what we already do, how we already are. It takes many shapes and goes by many names.

2. Mindfulness is not a special added thing we do. We already have the capacity to be present, and it doesn't require us to change who we are. But we can cultivate these innate qualities with simple practices that are scientifically demonstrated to benefit ourselves, our loved ones, our friends and neighbors, the people we work with, and the institutions and organizations we take part in

3. You don't need to change. Solutions that ask us to change who we are or become something we're not have failed us over and over again. Mindfulness recognizes and cultivates the best of who we are as human beings.

4. Mindfulness has the potential to become a transformative social phenomenon. Here's why:

5. Anyone can do it. Mindfulness practice cultivates universal human qualities and does not require anyone to change their beliefs. Everyone can benefit and it's easy to learn.

6. It's a way of living. Mindfulness is more than just a practice. It brings awareness and caring into everything we do-and it cuts down needless stress. Even a little makes our lives better.

7. It's evidence-based. We don't have to take mindfulness on faith. Both science and experience demonstrate its positive benefits for our health, happiness, work, and relationships.

8. It sparks innovation. As we deal with our world's increasing complexity and uncertainty, mindfulness can lead us to effective, resilient, low-cost responses to seemingly intransigent problems.

Mindfulness Is Not All in Your Head

When we think about mindfulness and meditating (with a capital M), we can get hung up on thinking about our thoughts: we're going to do something about what's happening in our heads. It's as if these bodies we have are just inconvenient sacks for our brains to lug around.

Having it all remain in your head, though, lacks a feeling of good old gravity.

Meditation begins and ends in the body. It involves taking the time to pay attention to where we are and what's going on, and that starts with being aware of our body

That approach can make it seem like floating-as though we don't have to walk. We can just waft.

But meditation begins and ends in the body. It involves taking the time to pay attention to where we are and what's going on, and that starts with being aware of our body. That very act can be calming, since our body has internal rhythms that help it relax if we give it a chance.

How to Sit for Meditation Practice

Here's a posture practice that can be used as the beginning stage of a period of meditation practice or simply as something to do for a minute, maybe to stabilize yourself and find a moment of relaxation before going back into the fray. If you have injuries or other physical difficulties, you can modify this to suit your situation.

1. Take your seat. Whatever you're sitting on-a chair, a meditation cushion, a park bench-find a spot that gives you a stable, solid seat, not perching or hanging back.

2. Notice what your legs are doing. If on a cushion on the floor, cross your legs comfortably in front of you. (If you already do some kind of seated yoga posture, go ahead.) If on a chair, it's good if the bottoms of your feet are touching the floor.

3. Straighten-but don't stiffen- your upper body. The spine has natural curvature. Let it be there. Your head and shoulders can comfortably rest on top of your vertebrae.

4. Situate your upper arms parallel to your upper body. Then let your hands drop onto the tops of your legs. With your upper arms at your sides, your hands will land in the right spot. Too far forward will make you hunch. Too far back will make you stiff. You're tuning the strings of your body-not too tight and not too loose.

5. Drop your chin a little and let your gaze fall gently downward. You may let your eyelids lower. If you feel the need, you may lower them completely, but it's not necessary to close your eyes when meditating. You can simply let what appears before your eyes be there without focusing on it.

6. Be there for a few moments. Relax. Pay attention to your breath or the sensations in your body.

7. Begin again. When your posture is established, feel your breath-or some say "follow" it-as it goes out and as it goes in. (Some versions of the practice put more emphasis on the outbreath, and for the inbreath you simply leave a spacious pause.) Inevitably, your attention will leave the breath and wander to other places. When you get around to noticing this-in a few seconds, a minute, five minutes-return your attention to the breath. Don't bother judging yourself or obsessing over the content of the thoughts. Come back. You go away, you come back.

8. That's it. That's the practice. It's often been said that it's very simple, but it's not necessarily easy. The work is to just keep doing it. Results will accrue.

Try This Beginner's Mindfulness Meditation:

A 5-Minute Breathing Meditation To Cultivate Mindfulness. This practice is designed to reduce stress, anxiety, and negative emotions, cool yourself down when your temper flares, and sharpen your concentration skills.

Learn more About Mindfulness:

Explore the science of mindfulness, learn how to meditate, and how to practice mindful movement, plus dispel some of the myths of mindfulness with Mindful's Getting Started Guide.

Becoming more aware of where you are and what you're doing, without becoming overly reactive or overwhelmed by what's going on around you. Read More

As more and more of us seek mindfulness guidance and instruction, where should we turn to find teachers and programs we can trust and recommend? Read More

Your day-to-day activities offer ample opportunities to call up mindfulness in any moment. These simple practices will breathe space into your daily routines. Read More

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What is mindfulness? Are you supposed to clear your mind, or focus on one thing? Here's the Mindful definition of Mindfulness.

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Scratch is a free programming language and online community where you can create your own interactive stories, games, and animations.

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Hour of Code on Khan Academy | Khan Academy

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The Internet Keep Safe Coalition is dedicated to protecting children, families, and schools by assessing, advising, and certifying organizations that collect, use, and share personal information and data that is protected by law.

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As a child, I would voluntarily go to school early, and stay late, to help my teachers grade papers and put up bulletin boards. I knew I always wanted to be a teacher, and now I have the pleasure of helping my fellow educators everyday as an Instructional Coach.

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This real-world problem-based lesson challenges students to figure out which password requirements make them harder to figure out via brute force.

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2. Check out this health example (click)

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2. Check out this health example (click)

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3. Check out this ELA (personal narrative) example (click)

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3. Check out this ELA (personal narrative) example (click)

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Consider the following. Feel free to jot your thoughts using a comment on this post.

What classroom instruction (lessons/units) lend themselves to embedding a digital citizenship component?

How might you go about finding meaningful connections to integrate digital citizenship?

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Consider the following. Feel free to jot your thoughts using a comment on this post.

How can digital citizenship book talks be helpful to get younger students thinking about their digital behaviors?

How can digital citizenship book talks be helpful to get older students thinking about their digital behaviors?

Do you have any of these titles in your library collection currently?

Do you know of grade level books (e.g., chapter books, YA books) that include technology-use themes?

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2. Now check out this list of even more digital citizenship books (click)

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2. Now check out this list of even more digital citizenship books (click)

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Spend some time simply exploring a few books and the corresponding one-page "book briefs"

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Go ahead and click through the slides and imagine how this might work with students.

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Online Teaching Archives - Learning and Teaching at Navitas

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