There’s no denying that being online can have negative effects, for adults and children. At the same time, we are living in a digital age where being online has become threaded into our everyday lives with various effects, some positive and some not so much.
The Building Better Tech Habits workshop offers parents and guardians actionable strategies for managing screen time, with a focus on the understanding that digital well-being solutions are not one-size-fits-all. The workshop addresses both the opportunities and challenges that digital technology presents to youth and adults alike, and provides a comprehensive and informed perspective on digital well-being.
There is one place getting more attention lately for increasing the quality of conversations: in-person.
I probably could, and maybe should, write about all of the social media changes we are seeing. The troubling updates to Meta’s content moderation policies and the removal of their fact-checking program, the complicated TikTok ban in the US, all of it.
This tip sheet will give you some tips for building a healthier relationship with social media so you can avoid the comparison trap and feel better about yourself online.
Understand How the 'Comparison Trap' Works
Here are a few things about social media that make us more likely to compare ourselves to others:
Here are some tips to develop a healthier relationship with technology:
Media risks
The risks that kids encounter in media fall into four categories:
Content risks, where kids are exposed to or engage with harmful content such as violence, hate, or sexualized media;
Conduct risks that come from what kids do or how they interact with other users;
Consumer risks related to money, advertising, and data collection;
Two important ideas relating to teens are the imaginary audience and the personal fable. The imaginary audience makes them overestimate how much attention other people are paying to them. This makes them more self-conscious and leads them to think of privacy primarily in terms of impression management – trying to control how others see them. The personal fable makes teens see themselves as the main character of a story and, as a result, leads many to believe that bad things will simply not happen to them.
Media risks
The risks that kids encounter in media fall into four categories:
Content risks, where kids are exposed to or engage with harmful content such as violence, hate, or sexualized media;
Conduct risks that come from what kids do or how they interact with other users;
Consumer risks related to money, advertising, and data collection;
The Raising Digitally Resilient Kids parent workshop outlines how parents and guardians can support children’s well-being and help them balance the risks and benefits of digital media. Based on insights from MediaSmarts’ research with youth, the workshop provides an overview of online risk categories and provides resources and essential strategies that participants can take to manage these risks.