Social Media — News & Popular Guides
Parent’s Guide to Discord
Discord supports voice, video, and text chat with over 150 million monthly users.
Parent’s Guide to Twitch
Community is key on Twitch; viewers interact through live chat with reactions, emotes, and comments.
Ask Trish: What is X?
So Twitter is now X? What does that actually mean? What’s going on?
Parent’s Quick-Guide to Instagram
Discuss with your teen the importance of prioritizing positive connections and mindful content searching on Instagram.
Quick-Guide to Roblox for Parents
Roblox includes social features like in-game chat, which can be turned off to enhance safety.
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Meta’s Threads Offers a Kinder, Gentler Experience than the New Twitter
Meta’s new Threads service is the second biggest challenge to Twitter.
Parent and Guardian Guide to Meta Horizon Worlds
Meta Horizon Worlds is now open to teens ages 13 to 17. Here’s what parents and teens need to know about navigating the social VR app safely.
FBI Issues Warning About Sextortion After Arrest in Teen Death
The FBI, the Department of Homeland Security and the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) issued a joint national public safety alert on financial sextortion schemes.
Ask Trish: Social Media and Mental Health
Dear Trish: Maybe it’s just me but I just feel really bad about myself when I’m on social media. Like literally everyone seems to be living their best life and it reminds me how much is wrong with mine. How can I feel better?
Family Guide to Parental Controls
How do I know when to use them, and should I tell my kids?
Protecting Mental Health on Instagram
I’m grateful to the Wall Street Journal for shedding light on some of the ways social media can contribute to a sense of inadequacy and other mental health issues. But what the article didn’t include is tips on how parents and teens can deal with these issues for a healthier online experience.
Seniors Flocking to TikTok
When you think about TikTok, it’s easy to conjure up images of young teens lip-synching and horsing around in short videos they share with their peers.
Ask Trish: The Pressure to Be Perfect
“I sometimes feel like the pressure to be perfect on social media can be so overwhelming. Do you have tips for...
Parent’s Guide to Snapchat
Snapchat is for fun and spontaneity, with text, photos, and videos deleting after viewing.
Ask Trish: Social Media and Mental Health
Dear Trish: Maybe it’s just me but I just feel really bad about myself when I’m on social media. Like literally everyone seems to be living their best life and it reminds me how much is wrong with mine. How can I feel better?
Family Guide to Parental Controls
How do I know when to use them, and should I tell my kids?
Protecting Mental Health on Instagram
I’m grateful to the Wall Street Journal for shedding light on some of the ways social media can contribute to a sense of inadequacy and other mental health issues. But what the article didn’t include is tips on how parents and teens can deal with these issues for a healthier online experience.
Seniors Flocking to TikTok
When you think about TikTok, it’s easy to conjure up images of young teens lip-synching and horsing around in short videos they share with their peers.
Ask Trish: The Pressure to Be Perfect
“I sometimes feel like the pressure to be perfect on social media can be so overwhelming. Do you have tips for...
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Teaching Kids Empathy & Kindness with Children’s Author Trudy Ludwig
Children's author Trudy Ludwig's books are not only delightfully written and illustrated but also teach and model...
Media in the Middle Ep. 10: Cancel Culture
Learn how young people feel about cancel culture, a practice of withdrawing support for (canceling) public figures and...
Well-Being on Instagram: The Latest Advice
We had a wide-ranging discussion with Instagram's head of safety, Vaishnavi J, about feeling pressure to present a...
Is Cyberbullying Increasing Amid Covid-19?
We spoke with Justin Patchin, co-director of the Cyberbullying Research Center about how young people (and...
How Schools and Parents Can Promote Media Literacy
Michelle Ciulla Lipkin, executive director of National Association for Media Literacy Education, speaks with us about why media literacy is more important than ever.
Why Teens Love TikTok
We spoke with Jeff Collins and Lavanya Mahendran about all things TikTok, including how people are creatively using the service during this period plus TikTok’s new safety features.
Facebook Global Head of Safety Antigone Davis
ConnectSafely’s Larry Magid and Kerry Gallagher interview Facebook Global Head of Safety Antigone Davis Podcast (Audio...
TikTok Adds Parental Controls and Disables Direct Messaging for Users Under 16
TikTok, the popular app that allows users to share short (typically 15 second) videos announced Family Pairing to give parents greater control over their teen’s safety setting.
Combating Domestic Violence While Sheltering at Home
Larry Magid and Kerry Gallagher speak with Rachel Gibson of the National Network to End Domestic Violence about how sheltering at home can affect domestic violence survivors and what survivors and supporters can do.