What Will They Text Next:

Teen, Social Media, and

Technology
 The Screen Challenge
Take a moment to total how much time you
spend daily looking at a screen.

Then,
Take some time to estimate how much time
your teenager spends looking at a screen.
 Kids Today…
• 78% of teens have cell phones, almost half own smartphones
• 1 in 4 are “cell-mostly” internet users
• 23% of teens have a tablet
• 81% use social networking sites
• 8-18 year olds devote an average of 7 hours and 38 minutes to using
entertainment media across a typical day
• 100% of EHS students have a laptop and access to the internet

(The Kaiser Family Foundation, 2010; PEW Research Center, 2014)

100% of EHS students have laptops

POP Quiz!
What Social Media Are They
Using?
What are they posting?
 Brain Changes:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
HffWFd_6bJ0
 Dangers of Social Media
What we know about teens:
•They are constantly trying
to define themselves.
•They crave positive
feedback to help them see
how their identity fits into
their world.
•They use social media for
this feedback... but they are
looking in a dangerous place.
How is this harmful:
•The danger exists in the
possibility of a very public
rejection because negative
feedback is there for anyone
and everyone to see.
•Another danger is that
teens ask for feedback
without learning first that
not everyone will respond in
a supportive way.
 What Can You Do
• In order to teach your children how to seek
feedback from genuine sources, parents
should start early by helping their children
identify trustworthy sources.
• Most importantly, parents need to
reinforce that the most influential voice
should come from within.
 Engage Your Family
• Engage your teen in meaningful conversation about internet
use
• Talk to other parents, deans, counselors
• Validate your teen's reality and their need to be connected
• Engage your child in drafting the rules for the family:
– guidelines for use
– consequences for breaking those rules
• Model appropriate use of technology:
– minimize texting
– don't use cell phone/laptop at meals
– don't use cell phone in the car
 Let Your Teen Know
• That you have the right to check their laptop, phone, etc..
• What apps/media are okay and what are not
• That you need to know their passwords
• What their online responsibilities are:
– Protecting their privacy
– Not engaging in cyber bullying
 What Are You Worried About?
• Invading your kid’s privacy?
• Not feeling comfortable with being on social
media?
• That they have secret accounts?

Just as you would establish ground rules and do

diligence in person, there is a need to do the same
things - or even more - with the internet.
 Other Parental Concern
• 81% are worried about how much advertisers can
learn about their kid’s through their behavior
online
• 72% are worried their kid is interacting with people
they do not know online
• 70% are worried about how their online activity
might affect their future academic or employment
opportunities
• 60% are worried about their kids reputation online
(Pew Research Center, 2013)
Apps to Protect Your Kid in the Car
• Canary
• MamaBear Child Tracker app
• Rapid Protect
• OnStar Family Link
• Travelers Insurance IntelliDrive
• Progressive's Snapshot
• AT&T DriveMode
• Sprint Drive First
• Cellcontrol
• Drive Scribe
 Apps to Protect Your Teen’s
Phone
• My Mobile Watchdog
• Mobile Spy
• Text Guard
• WebWatcher
 Scripture to Empower
Matthew 18.6-7
 ‘If any of you put a stumbling-block before one of
these little ones who believe in me, it would be better
for you if a great millstone were fastened around your
neck and you were drowned in the depth of the
sea. Woe to the world because of stumbling-blocks!
Occasions for stumbling are bound to come, but woe to
the one by whom the stumbling-block comes!”