The journal Pediatrics (from the American Academy of Pediatrics) has designed a website with recommendations for parents about their childrens’ use of social media and monitoring use. This blog report is from that AAP web site:

Be aware of the ages of use for sites your tweens and older elementary school kids want to use, including game sites such as ‘Club Penguin’ and ‘Webkins.’ Many sites are for age 13 and older, and the sites for younger kids do require parental consent to use.

The journal Pediatrics (from the American Academy of Pediatrics) has designed a website with recommendations for parents about their childrens’ use of social media and monitoring use. This blog report is from that AAP web site:

Share a bit about your daily social media (SM) use as a way to facilitate daily conversation about your kids’ online habits. Get your kids talking about their SM lives if you can, just so you know what they are doing.

Keep the computer in a public part of your home, such as the family room or kitchen, so that you can check on what your kids are doing online and how much time they are spending there.

Talk with other parents about what their kids of similar ages are using for SM. Ask your kids about those technologies as a starting point for discussion.

The journal Pediatrics (from the American Academy of Pediatrics) has designed a website with recommendations for parents about their childrens’ use of social media and monitoring use. 

Because the issue of sexting has become a concern to parents, communities and legal authorities, we felt that a specific set of recommendations should be listed addressing this important issue. This blog report is from that AAP web site:

“Sexting” refers to sending a text message with pictures of children or teens that are inappropriate, naked or engaged in sex acts.

According to a recent survey, about 20 percent of teen boys and girls have sent such messages. The emotional pain it causes can be enormous for the child in the picture as well as the sender and receiver--often with legal implications.

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has designed a website giving recommendations to parents about monitoring their children’s use of social media. This blog report is from that AAP web site. 

Today’s teens and “tweens” are connected to one another, and to the world, via digital technology more than any previous generation. Recent data suggests that social media (SM) venues like Facebook and MySpace have surpassed e-mail as the preferred method of communication in all age groups.

A recent report from the journal Pediatrics discusses benefits and risks of youngsters using social media. This blog report will discuss the issue of the very young singing onto social media sites.

Many parents know that 13 years is the minimum age for most social media sites but they don't understand why. There are 2 major reasons.

A recent report from the journal Pediatrics discusses benefits and risks of youngsters using social media. This series of posts discuss those risks and benefits. This information comes directly from the report.

Researchers have proposed a new phenomenon called “Facebook depression,” defined as depression that develops when preteens and teenagers spend a great deal of time on social media sites, such as Facebook, and then begin to exhibit classic symptoms of depression. Acceptance by and contact with peers is an important element of adolescent life. The intensity of the online world is thought to be a factor that may trigger depression in some adolescents.

A recent report from the journal Pediatrics discussed the benefits and risks of youngsters using social media: 

Middle and high school students are using social media to connect with one another on homework and group projects. For example, Facebook and similar social media programs allow students to gather outside of class to collaborate and exchange ideas about assignments. Some schools successfully use blogs as teaching tools, which has the benefit of reinforcing skills in English, written expression, and creativity.

A recent report from the journal Pediatrics discusses benefits and risks of youngsters using social media. This series of posts discuss those risks and benefits. This information comes directly from the report.

Cyberbullying is deliberately using digital media to communicate false, embarrassing, or hostile information about another person. It is the most common online risk for all teens and is a peer-to-peer risk.

Although “online harassment” is often used interchangeably with the term “cyberbullying,” it is actually a different entity. Current data suggest that online harassment is not as common as offline harassment, and participation in social networking sites does not put most children at risk of online harassment.

A recent report from the journal Pediatrics discusses benefits and risks of youngsters using social media. This series of posts will discuss those positives and negatives. This report comes directly from the report from Pediatrics.

Social media sites allow teens to accomplish online many of the tasks that are important to them offline: staying connected with friends and family, making new friends, sharing pictures, and exchanging ideas.

Social media participation (such as on Facebook) also can offer adolescents deeper benefits that extend into their view of self, community, and the world, including:

This post is the first in a series on social media. The content comes directly from a land-mark article in the journal Pediatrics, a publication of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

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.