Are You a Responsible Digital Citizen?

Online Safety and Responsible Internet Use for Children

• Smartphones offer a wide range of possibilities for children to explore, including going online, playing games, listening to music, and learning new things.
• Every message sent online should be treated as a face-to-face conversation, and words used online represent the sender.
• Children should take great care with everything they share online, especially personal information and photos about themselves and their friends.
• Parents and adults should be consulted for help and advice when in doubt about sharing something online.
• Time limits should be set for phone use, and devices should be put out of reach when studying or spending quality time with friends and family.
• Cyberbullying is a real issue that children should be aware of, and they should be encouraged to be a friend and not a bystander when witnessing offensive content online.
• The privacy of friends should be respected, and consent should be sought before sharing anything potentially embarrassing or harmful.
• Personal information and photos shared online can easily be re-shared and remain online for a long time, so children should be careful when posting and sharing.
• Children should be aware of fake news and how to spot it, including reading beyond the headlines, checking dates and authors, and verifying sources with adults.
• Sharing fake news can harm individuals or groups, and children should think before clicking the share button.
• Actions taken online can have real-life consequences, and children should be mindful of their behavior and language.
• Children should be encouraged to spend quality time offline with friends and family and to use their devices responsibly and safely.

How young people are fighting against the harmful effects of social media

• Many young people struggle to replicate the flawless makeup looks they see on social media, which can lead to feelings of stress and discouragement.
• The impact of social media on young people's mental health and self-identity is becoming increasingly concerning.
• Students Against Violence Everywhere (SAVE) Promise Club, an offshoot of Sandy Hook Promise, is a national network of student-led groups dedicated to keeping young people safe, with a particular focus on guarding them against the dark side of social media.
• Frances Haugen's testimony alleging that Meta (parent company of Facebook and Instagram) downplayed its own research on the harmful effects of its platforms on teens sparked months of news reports and Congressional hearings on social media's impact on young people's mental health and safety.
• Three high school students from SAVE Promise Club's national youth advisory board explain how they are helping to keep their peers safe online.
• Noor Soomro, Aashi Mittal, and Lena Kalandjian have organized workshops and mental health awareness programs to help young people maintain a healthy balance between online and real life.
• Social media is addictive and has become an inextricable aspect of young people's lives, making it difficult to disconnect entirely.
• Despite the negative effects, connecting with friends online gives young people an essential support system at a time when peer interaction is vital to their social, emotional, and ethical development.
• Lawmakers are moving to pass the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) to create a responsibility for social media platforms to prevent harms to minors.
• The teens recognize that, regardless of what happens in Congress, their work needs to carry on, and they want to empower young people to have a healthier relationship with social media.
• Frances Haugen is advocating for a broader youth-led social movement to build pressure from young adults for social media companies to reform their ways.
• The teens interviewed in the article are graduating from high school soon, but they plan to continue their work and make a difference in the world.