teens

Community Learning, Social Shame, and Poorly-Equipped Teens

June 7, 2020 by GetKidsInternetSafe

I am deeply saddened on top of many layers of horror and sadness from these last few weeks. While we are all still reeling from the fears of unknowing and weeks of social isolation due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we witnessed the heartless murder of George Floyd on TV as he begged for his life and onlookers pled for his safety. The #blacklivesmatter dialogues that have followed by our leaders, celebrities, neighbors, friends, and families have sparked further insights, horrors, hopes, and healing. From my position of privilege, it is impossible to try on the skin of oppressed black and brown Americans. I do not have the capacity to do so no matter how hard I try. But I really do try. I know from decades of training and experience that none of us walk through this unjust world without prejudice and bias. It is the human condition. We ALL have work to do. Our rage and pain and fear and sadness offer opportunities for insight. Some are taking it in quietly, some are coming out fists up. I choose to believe that important voices are being heard, just as I believe they will unconsciously dim from our awareness when the news cycle becomes stale. We all must commit to keeping our fight against hate, oppression, and prejudice in the forefront of our minds and behavior from here until we breathe our last breath. As a collective, we can make a difference but only with consistent effort, education, and heart.

For this article from my role as a screen safety expert and child advocate, I’d also like to shine a light on another angry mob that feels justified in shaming online postings in passionate pursuit of justice. Last night it was a viral post that appeared in my 5k member mom community Facebook group. I woke up this morning and checked the weather, the news, and Facebook. First on my feed was a post from a young woman outing a pickup truck full of teens flying an American flag. She wrote, “Nothing brings me more joy than exposing racists, these troubled souls were driving by a peaceful protest in Camarillo yelling, “Fuck black lives.” Then she posted the license plate number. Shortly after, a s&^tstorm of comments ensued. The kids were named with the grade they were in and the school they attended. Moms raged that the boys were racists and terrorized a group of peaceful protesters by driving around saying these hateful things. Many blamed the parents and the parents’ businesses were mentioned. A few commenters spoke up saying it isn’t OK to socially shame minors or out their parents. Over 200 comments later, I was mortified.

I reported the post and impulsively posted this response:

I agree that some teen behavior is despicable but posting photos and names of minors on a forum that’s supposed to be for community building is wrong. Being a cyberbullying social shaming mob is the opposite of community building. We teach our kids to be better than this and then we, the adults, do it? As a mother, screen safety expert, and psychologist, I had to speak up as an advocate for kids. Kids make stupid mistakes. It’s our job as experienced adults who have learned from our stupid mistakes to work them through to insight. Instead of leading with compassion, this post could be potentially devastating for their futures. It teaches hate and shame rather than judgment and discernment. Just because a poster feels like they have the right to humiliate and harm those kids does not make it acceptable. Photos, names, and their grade and school?!! That’s called doxing. What you post may be legally actionable. We each need to consider how we’d feel if our child was outed like this. As a collective, we are not law enforcement, judge, and jury of this town. We can do better.

Immediately from there, the admin shut down all comments to my post and took off the other post. I believe this was in support of my message and to stop the bleeding. Several likes and loves have ensued, but the dialogue stopped. Was that the right move to make?

The admin for this group and I have consulted about the bad behavior on this page before. Last time we talked, the kids of the town were cyberbullying and trolling the page with horrific images, one regarding the holocaust. She said she was so upset she threw up. My teen son told me that the kids had waged war on the “Karens” for outing kids on the page in the past with inaccurate claims and unfair vitriol. It sparked a lot of complicated discussions between us as a family. I listened a lot and raised ideas and challenged him. He and I talk a lot about social justice issues and how they are handled online. Recent events have been especially rich in opportunity.

The post went up late last night. It’s unclear if the admin even saw it until this morning. She has an impossible job wrangling angry moms all of the time, trying to offer an open forum but police it with reasonable community guidelines. It’s got to be an impossible and mostly thankless job. She’s even recruited helpers, but it’s tough to discern when a post is offensive rather than an opinion. She strikes me as gracious, generous, and reasonable.

Shortly after the comments were frozen and the post was taken down, I went on to see that one of the moms wrote a heartfelt apology for her son. Although many moms supported her, stating that teens make mistakes and it took courage for her to post, others continued to hatefully blame her and pick apart her apology word-for-word. Once again, this string was a far cry from listening, learning, and healing. I sent her a private message of support saying:

I am deeply saddened by what your family is going through. I have a child your son’s age…not sure if we know each other. Of course, I do not in any way support his behavior. I support the black lives matter movement. But I also passionately advocate for kids of all colors, stages of learning, and momentary headspaces. But I know many truths from many years of training and experience. 1) he has lived in an entirely different virtual world than any of these moms. He was probably thinking that black lives matter is so obvious that its ok to poke fun. 2) He got way too carried away. He was probably jacked up from friend provocation and testosterone and his vengeance for the “Karens” that his generation wants to put down. We’ve run their lives, they’re pushing back. We did it too. 3) He’s only 17 years old. He doesn’t have the experience or brain wiring to anticipate consequences. Hell, most of us cannot see into the future either. My son is 16 yo, and he has so so much to learn still too. So does my 18-year-old daughter. and my 26-year-old daughter. So do I. Still making mistakes to this day, still learning. 4) You’re raising a human being, not a robot. You can’t control his choices. But it’s obvious you are a good mom really trying. Cheers to you for that. 5) It took so much courage to enter that fray. You did what was right. There was no way you could have strung the nouns and verbs together to ease the anger. 6) I could rant all day but I wanted you to know that my compassion, prayers, and mom juju is 100% behind you and your son. He has learning and healing to do. Assaulting him as that poster did was very wrong. I’m so sorry you are going through this. I’m behind you.

The mom went on to a private dialogue with me from there. Her story was that her son was not one who yelled out and that many of the kids were saying “copslivesmatter” and “whitelivesmatter.” Some of them were children of police officers. For the record, I knew the original poster as a little girl. She had her scrapes as a teen too. Small town living indeed. There are always many sides to the story.

When I read my response to her now, I think I probably was too easy. Maybe I was “whitewashing” it and not taking into account how these boys deeply frightened and intimidated others. Do they have a right to free speech when they are acting aggressively? Were they acting aggressively? This was far more than “poking fun.” See? It takes so much awareness and contemplation to recognize our blinders. A fair point is that some would consider my empathetic response to this mom and son to be part of the problem. They would say that quiet compassion isn’t enough. Anger, shame, and even violence are justified due to years of oppression and violence toward Americans of color. That pickup truckload of boys scared people. That kind of behavior blossoms into hate crimes. People of color live with that every day, all of the time. I read another post from the daughter of a policeman who spoke of her fear for his life every day. But she took it a bit further. She recognized that her dad gets to take his badge off at the end of the day and walk around town without fear. So many perspectives to take, so many stories to tell.

I’m not an expert with the #blacklivesmatter movement. But I am an expert on child psychology. We need to listen and challenge more. We need to read, learn, and continue these very hard conversations. We need to lean into the discomfort and ask ourselves what role we are playing. The admins of this Facebook group later came on and apologized for taking the comments down. They invited more discussion and asked for people to message them their concerns. Many in the forum praised them for stopping hateful dialogue. Others said it was an injustice to delete the education from the black moms on the post and their allies. Some said discomfort is necessary and many still felt those boys deserved to be confronted.

I don’t have the answers here. I’m still grappling too. But I am listening and challenging and trying. I believe that shame and violence are not where the learning is at. Community building is where we will achieve the best insight. Until we figure this out, we can do better.

White Supremacists or ISIS? Are Hate Groups and Cults Seducing Your Teen Online?

June 3, 2020 by Dr. Tracy Bennett

The internet offers virtual neighborhoods to satisfy any interest. For kids and teens, online neighborhoods can be dangerous. The Southern Poverty Law Center estimates that 940 hate groups are operating in the United States. Fueled by the COVID-19 pandemic, immigration fears, an increasingly global economy, troubled race relations, and divisive politics, the number of hate groups in 2021 was more than a 55% increase since 2000. When one considers that the Internet is worldwide, the potential for online hate is staggering. Hate groups and cults have a powerful recruitment tool with the internet. Too many of our mass shooters have been radicalized online, meaning that their opinions have become extreme. Our kids may not only view manipulative recruiting information but they may also be assessed for vulnerabilities. Could your teen be at risk?

Those who commit hate crimes were often radicalized online.

In 2015, 21-year-old Dylann Roof walked into a Charleston church and shot and killed nine innocent people. Like Isla Vista shooter Elliot Rodger, Dylann posted a hateful online manifesto before his rampage detailing his violent and racist beliefs. Along with photos of him standing on and burning an American Flag and aiming his gun, his manifesto titled “an explanation” detailed his “disdain” for blacks, Jews, Hispanics, and patriotism.

“I have no choice. I am not in the position to, alone, go into the ghetto and fight. I chose Charleston because it is the most historic city in my state, and at one time had the highest ratio of blacks to whites in the country. We have no skinheads, no real KKK, no one doing anything but talking on the internet. Well someone has to have the bravery to take it to the real world, and I guess that has to be me.”

His hate crime was not a split-second decision. The shooter had spent months online in white supremacy forums escalating into hate and violence. He didn’t have to look far online for hate.

No longer do hate groups and cults have to rely on interpersonal contact, newsletters, and rallies for recruitment. New members can be recruited and groomed slowly and deceptively from the safety of their bedrooms.

Websites and social media posts are inexpensive and easy to design, offering big reach and control over the content. Internet platforms are the perfect tool for grooming, behavioral manipulation, and coercive thought control. By the time a teen is ready to pack their suitcase to join the group, they may have been expertly brainwashed over months to adopt a radicalized web of beliefs.

The Red Flag Strategies of Hate Groups and Cults

By learning about the strategies hate groups and cults use to attract members, you will be better able to recognize dangerous online sites.

Here are some of the ways bad actors online radicalize their victims.

Attract Your Attention with Sensational Messaging

The bad actor will put up clickbait, which is messaging based on deception and false facts to trigger intrigue, suspicion, and paranoia. An example of a clickbait question is, “Did you know that Martin Luther King Jr. was not a legitimate reverend?”

Attempt to Isolate You by Exploiting Emotional Vulnerabilities and Destabilizing Friend and Family Support

Isolating you from those who look out for you starts with probes that assess if you are being supervised and are willing to engage with them with questions like, “Where is your computer?” “Are you alone?”

Then, the bad actor will attempt to win your trust by pretending to be understanding and friendly with comments like, “I know what that feels like.” “You can trust me.”

Once the victim shows interest and openness, the bad actor will challenge your belief system and attack your trust of family and friends. If the recruiter can tap into your fear and insecurity, they can then start to target blame on the people who protect you with comments like, “Do your parents overlook and dismiss you?” “Do you feel lonely and misunderstood?” “If they loved you, they would not control you as they do.”

Promise a Cure for Emotional Pain

Once they have you sharing private feelings and information, they’ll promise to be the one to help you out with promises of protection, secret intimacy, romantic unconditional love, belonging to a community, wealth, fame, power over others, escape, or a spiritual “answer.”

Intense unrelenting pressure to build trust and a sense of belonging

Once they have you on the hook, they will overwhelm you with manipulative messaging. Online blogs are highly effective in nurturing belief change with long narratives dispersed over time. Cyber communities bond with a sense of special belonging, shared values and practices, and a fierce sense of specialness and pride. The goal is to tempt you into slowly sacrificing your free will and becoming increasingly reliant on the group to do your thinking for you. Members are often encouraged to troll others in support of radicalized beliefs.

Marketing Techniques and Products Targeting Teens

Inducing guilt by providing offers of friendship and gifts leaves subjects feeling that they owe the recruiter and must give back. Hyped meetings, branding, and merchandising support the power and exclusivity of the group (e.g., slogans, symbols, colors, mascots, music, video games, and customized slang).

Tests of Loyalty and Intimidation

Once they have you joined up to their cause, bad actors will demand your blind obedience with ideas like, “We have direct authority from a divine power.”

Invitations and Offers for Wealth and Travel

Once you are engaged with them, they may ultimately try to get you to send them money, recruit others, or travel to meet them in person. They do this by offering you money, gifts, leadership positions, and affection.

Who is susceptible?

If you are thinking that only older teens are susceptible to online recruitment, think again. Many hate group websites include a kids’ page with coloring pages, puzzles, animated mascots, videos, and downloadable music and video games (sometimes with racially intolerant content like torturing or hunting the target populations of their hate) for early grooming. Like with all big brands, the sooner they rope in a customer, the more influence they’ll have and the more profit they’ll make.

Perhaps you’re thinking government surveillance and regulation will keep your family safe. Unfortunately, regulation to block hateful cyber conduct is only in its infancy. With America’s protection of civil liberties, it’s left to parents to police child access to online content.

Even with parent monitoring, it’s difficult to keep up. Digital natives often actively seek causes to get behind in their healthy quest for individual identity, even if it means joining somebody else’s civil war. Rolling Stone Magazine wrote of three Muslim teens who were taken into custody at the airport on their way to join ISIS after a long period of online grooming, all without their parent’s awareness. It’s impossible to know how many young people have been radicalized through Internet content, and those prosecuted are protected by sealed records due to minor status.

Teens are onboarding traits that make them fight for social justice.

To prepare teens to find their own tribes, their brains take on new ways of looking at things. Teens often become idealistic (meaning they over-overestimate positive outcomes without being cautious enough), omnipotent (meaning they think they are more powerful than they are), and more committed to their own way of looking at things (also called egocentrism). They seek simple answers in a confusingly nuanced world and are primed to seek spiritual fulfillment, meaning, and a sense of belonging.

When I was young, I was shy and eager to please. As a tween, sometimes my dad would say sensational comments to provoke me into an argument. We would then engage in heated debates littered with respectful confrontation and presentation of evidence. It wasn’t until I was much older that I realized that he was teaching me assertiveness in the face of authority. Although he required obedience, he made it clear that blind obedience was not acceptable and provided me with a safe place to experiment with critical thinking and speak up with questions and complaints. Most importantly, he taught me that there is no shame in standing up for what’s right and in risking failure. That is the kind of loving, fun, and safe training ground every child needs to build resilience. Love and safety build resilience, not oppression and long lectures.

If you’re a tween or teen taking out Social Media Readiness Course, ask your parents if they’ve ever come across hateful or radical ideas online. Share with them the red flags of manipulation that you learned from this article and ask them if they have any ideas how you can avoid these dangerous ideas online.

I’m the mom psychologist who will help you GetYourKidsInternetSafe.

Onward to More Awesome Parenting,

Tracy S. Bennett, Ph.D.
Mom, Clinical Psychologist, CSUCI Adjunct Faculty
GetKidsInternetSafe.com

GKIS Recommends Some Favorite Mental Health Apps

May 18, 2020 by Makenzie Stancliff

Surveys reveal that depression and anxiety have increased for adults, teens, and kids. It’s unclear what is causing these increases, but longer workdays and overtasked lives may be strong contributors. Increased screen time on video games, social media, video and movie streaming, texts, and emails can be super fun and even improve productivity. But too much screen time can also lead to a mental brownout, a type of anxious fatigue that we may not even recognize until it leads to mental illness. Giving up screens to avoid it simply isn’t possible for most of us. But the good news is we don’t have to! Learn how smartphone health and wellness apps can benefit you without having to give up screen time!

Mental Health

Did you know that anxiety, depression, self-harm, and suicide is up 78% among teens?[1] In fact, by some estimates 1 in 6 children between the ages of 2 and 8 have a mental, behavioral, or developmental disorder. Left untreated, child symptoms may lead to more issues in adulthood.

Among children ages 3 to 17:

4% or 6.1 million have been diagnosed with ADHD
4% or 4.5 million have been diagnosed with a behavior problem
1% or 4.4 million have been diagnosed with anxiety and
2% or 1.9 million have diagnosed with depression.

Boys are more likely than girls to experience a mental, behavioral, or developmental disorder.[2]

Social Media Impacts on Children’s Mental Health

Sleep Deprivation

Social media has various effects on mental health, especially in children. Dr. Bennett writes in her book, Screen Time in the Mean Time, says that she feels sleep deprivation is the most common contributor to mental health problems today. The blue light on devices interrupts the sleep pattern and makes it more difficult to fall asleep. Many people also develop a compulsive impulse to check notifications which can also delay sleep.[3] Teens with sleep deprivation demonstrate lower achievement motivation, more teacher-child relationship problems, a poorer academic self-concept, and poorer school performance.

Self-Comparison

Too often, we see the best sides of our friends on social media. After all, nobody wants to read about the doom and gloom of a breakup or the fight someone just had with their mother-in-law. Positive posting can lead to friends feeling left out and generally bad about how their lives don’t compare. The GKIS article The FOMO EFFECT: How Fun Friend Posts Can Lead to Clinical Anxiety provides more information on self-comparison.

Distraction

Social media poses a major risk of distractibility. We tend to go on an endless cycle of content on one social media app or we cycle between multiple social media apps. This causes us to spend a longer amount of time on social media and forget about what we are supposed to do in the “real world”.

Mental Health Apps

Dr. Bennett recommends mental health apps to her clients all of the time. Free and convenient, they can be a great addition to psychotherapy. Even for people who aren’t in treatment, mental health apps can help us get to where we want to be by offering mood-enhancing toolkits, mood monitoring, and breathing and meditation ideas.

Mental health apps are awesome in that they are convenient, inexpensive, and even free, and available. They can be a comfortable first-step to wellness prior to (or even while) seeking out help from a mental health professional.

CAUTION: Keep in mind possible privacy issues due to the risk of data breaching and the release of private information to third parties. Many psychologists also agree that the apps are not as effective as seeing a mental health professional.[4]

Here are some mental health apps that GKIS is happy to share with you:

Sanvello

Sanvello is an app that aims to help you relieve symptoms of depression or anxiety by providing a complex toolkit of strategies and resources. It allows you to record your mood and health activities in order to track patterns.

There is also a Sanvello peer community that allows users to share stories, encouragement, and personal insights on any topic. The Terms of Service state “You must be over 13 years of age to use the Services, and children under the age of 13 cannot use or register for the Services.”[5]

The toolkit provided by Sanvello includes:

Meditation: Lessons focus on specific topics like relaxing, mindfulness, stressful situations, and calm down.

Health: Helps you track health habits that may be affecting your moods such as exercise, drug use, and water or caffeine consumption.

Hope: This tool provides the user with a space to save photos, quotes, activities, and community content.

Thoughts: Provides a place for journaling, analyzing events that have occurred, or discovering characteristics that have contributed to a feeling.

Goals: Allows users to select a challenge such as reconnecting with a friend or saying hello to a stranger.

Guided Journeys: A series of journeys that encourage a user to accomplish something they have never done before.

Porchlight: Being There

Porchlight is an app that is designed to allow loved ones to easily check in on each other’s mental health. The app prompts you to “check-in” once you enter the app where you can share your emotions using emoji. Users can connect with others which will send daily check-in notifications to the connected users. Porchlight provides prompts to check in with the connected users depending on what emotion they check in as.

Porchlight’s Terms of Service states “you must be 13 or older to register as a user or to use the app. If you are a minor, you must have your parents’ permission to donate through the App.”[6]

Headspace

Headspace is an app that provides guided meditation exercises to help the user become healthier and happier. Headspace claims that it can increase happiness by 16% with just 10 days of use. It is also a popular app with over 60 million active users.

There are 4 main guides to mindfulness within the app:

The Wake Up: Daily short stories and small meditations to help you start your morning on a good start

Move Mode: Exercises to help strengthen mental and physical well-being

Sleep: Sleepcasts, music, and audio experiences to aid a restful night of sleep

Meditation: Teaches everyday mindfulness to help at any time of the day[7]

According to the Terms of Service for Headspace, “You must be 18 years of age, or the age of majority in your province, territory or country, to sign up as a registered user of the Products. Individuals under the age of 18, or the applicable age of majority, may utilize the Products only with the involvement and consent of a parent or legal guardian, under such person’s account and otherwise subject to these Terms.”[8]

Calm

Calm is an app designed to assist users to develop healthy mental fitness, relax, and good sleep habits. The goal of the app is to introduce people to the benefits of mindfulness through meditation.

There are 6 different items of focus in the app:

Meditate: Teaches the skills of meditation

Sleep: Tools to have a restful sleep

Music: To help you relax, focus, or sleep

Body: Demonstrates mindful movement and stretching

Masterclass: Audio programs taught by experts

Scenes: Nature scenes and sounds to help relax and focus[9]

Calm’s Terms of Service state “you may only use the Services only if you are 13 years or older. To make a purchase via the Services, you must be 18 years or older and capable of forming a binding contract.”[10]

Thank you to CSUCI Intern, Makenzie Stancliff for providing insight on mental health apps. For more information about how electronics can impact our health, check out Dr. Bennett’s GKIS article, Is Wi-Fi Dangerous to Our Health?

I’m the mom psychologist who will help you GetKidsInternetSafe.

Onward to More Awesome Parenting,

Tracy S. Bennett, Ph.D.

Mom, Clinical Psychologist, CSUCI Adjunct Faculty

GetKidsInternetSafe.com

Photo Credits

Photo by Sydney Sims on Unsplash

Photo by Julia Coimbra on Unsplash

Works Cited

[1](n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.ajmc.com/focus-of-the-week/mental-health-issues-on-the-rise-among-adolescents-young-adults

[2]Data and Statistics on Children’s Mental Health. (2019, April 19). Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/childrensmentalhealth/data.html

[3] How does social media impact the mental health of young people? (2019, October 28). Retrieved from https://www.internetmatters.org/blog/2017/04/12/social-media-impact-mental-health-young-people/

[4]Technology and the Future of Mental Health Treatment. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/technology-and-the-future-of-mental-health-treatment/index.shtml

[5]Home. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.sanvello.com/

[6]Being There. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.porchlightapp.io/

[7] “Meditation and Sleep Made Simple.” Headspace, www.headspace.com/.

[8] “Terms & Conditions.” Headspace, www.headspace.com/terms-and-conditions.

[9] “About.” Calm Blog, www.calm.com/blog/about.

[10] “Terms of Service.” Calm, www.calm.com/en/terms.

Trending YouTube Communities That Kids (and we at GKIS) Love

May 17, 2020 by Alexandra Rosas-Ruiz

Fun trends on the YouTube Explore page attract audience attention and vet the best online content and influencers. To build child resilience and teach problem-solving and good judgment, we at GKIS encourage parents to carve out the time to share online interests and co-view YouTube channels with their kids. To help you get started (or continue) having fun online as a family, we’ve found some fun trends and creators that may be a great source of inspiration for developing new interests and hobbies. Having fun together and building digital fluency and an awareness of what’s hot and what’s not will help you build credibility with your kids. Even better, they will start to teach you about what’s out there, and, ultimately, work with you to make difficult online decisions. Our goal isn’t to shut your kids off from online discovery. Instead, we believe in family togetherness, online learning and discovery, and building child resiliency and safety – and having fun while you’re at it!

**CAUTION: GKIS has chosen these creators because of their family-friendly content and the variety of communities that they represent. Although we are excited to share these amazing creators, please keep in mind that some of them are more suitable for older teenagers due to their language and the nature of their content. Further, many of these creators have hours of videos that we did not sample. Please watch and decide for yourself the appropriateness of each channel for your unique child.

Mukbangs

A kind of video trend that has been popular in recent years has been Mukbang videos. Mukbangs, a trend originally popularized in South Korea, are videos where people eat large quantities of food while interacting with their audience [1].

These kinds of videos are popular with young people because they can be enjoyed as entertainment, to satisfy cravings, or to enjoy the creator’s style, humor, and personality.

We recommend you check out YouTuber Zach Choi. Zach, with almost 8 million subscribers, takes his viewers through his process of preparing for his mukbangs, consuming the food, and collaborates with other popular YouTube creators, both in and out of the Mukbang community.

In his videos, Zach silently eats large amounts of food with occasional captions that describe the foods or promotes the creators he features on his channel. Zach will often do a combination of a mukbang and an ASMR video. ASMR, or autonomous sensory meridian response, videos are videos that utilize audio and visuals in order to produce a tingling sensation that moves down the back and upper spine [2]. There are only certain people that get this “ASMR feeling”, and for them, videos like these can be very enjoyable to watch. Zach doesn’t seem to use inappropriate language, as he does not speak in his videos, or do sponsored content.

Technology Reviews

In the world of technology, YouTuber Marques Brownlee has made a name for himself with his thorough and unbiased technology reviews.

Marques is a creator who often trends on the YouTube Explore page and has over 10 million subscribers. For people interested in technology, watching Marques can be a good way to learn about the various features that go into different devices or simply get a professional opinion on what electronics to consider buying.

While Marques reviews technology, he does not promote buying the most recent devices or show bias towards certain brands. He simply reviews the newest technology on the market and gives his opinion on its features and performance.

For teens going into high school or college who need new devices for their academics, interested in creating content, or interested in studying technology, this is a great creator to watch. Marques very rarely does sponsored content and does not seem to use inappropriate language.

Food

In the food community, the brand Bon Appetit has created a popular platform on YouTube with a variety of series, all based on cooking.

Chefs from Bon Appetit post videos from their company test kitchen showing how to cook recipes from many different cuisines. What makes Bon Appetit different from your average Food Network cooking video are the chefs. While Bon Appetit’s crew of chefs provide detailed instructions on their recipes, they do so in a fun, humorous manner, letting their personalities naturally shine through and interacting with their fellow chefs in the test kitchen. This makes for some entertaining videos that have gained the attention of many young followers.

With fun and detailed videos, Bon Appetit has inspired this new generation to think twice about dining out and instead try something new in the kitchen. Two very popular series to check out are Gourmet Makes by chef Claire Saffitz and It’s Alive by chef Brad Leone. Bon Appetit does not seem to do sponsored content. This channel is recommended for an older audience, as some videos may contain explicit language.

Music

For people interested in music, the National Public Radio created a popular YouTube series called Tiny Desk Concert, dedicated to live performances from some of the most talented artists.

This YouTube series, which is on the NPR Music YouTube channel, posts new performances every month, with artists from varying genres and languages. These concerts differ from live performances, as they are played live with no prerecorded tracks or lip-syncing. Artists sing their songs live with either a band or by themselves with their preferred instrument in a small space that resembles an office desk, hence the name “Tiny Desk”, with a small studio audience.

This channel is great for young fans and music enthusiasts because it allows you to discover new artists every month, plus you can see your favorite artists perform their songs in new styles and see the different instruments and vocals it takes to best perform their music. NPR is careful with putting disclaimers in their videos for the artists that use explicit language, either in their songs or when speaking. This series does not do sponsorships, as they rely on donations from the public to keep the series going.

Charity

If you want to watch videos while contributing to a charitable cause, check out the YouTube channel Grandpa Kitchen.

This channel, with over 7 million subscribers, is a cooking channel created by a family in India to raise money for the local orphanage that they work for. The videos posted by this channel originally starred an older Indian gentleman lovingly referred to as “Grandpa” by subscribers. Grandpa would greet his subscribers and explain the meal he would be preparing for the orphans that day.

Grandpa cooked large quantities of food for all the orphans at his organization with the help of his grandsons. After Grandpa passed away, his grandsons took over the channel in order to continue the good work Grandpa started. Many families and fans from around the world have shared their support after Grandpa’s passing, and you can truly see how fans young and old were able to bond over watching Grandpa every week.

Although Grandpa is no longer with us, his grandsons continue to create videos with a similar format to Grandpa’s videos and continue to use the money earned from the channel to support the orphans with food, supplies, etc. These videos are in English, and the creators do not do sponsored content or use inappropriate language.

Discover Together

As we share these creators and communities, we encourage you and your children to discover new favorite communities and content to inspire you to create and discover beyond the screen. There are family-friendly creators in every community waiting to be discovered, all it takes is some time and patience.

Thanks to Alexandra Rosas-Ruiz for her research and help with writing this article. If you have questions about what your child is interested in on YouTube, try coaching sessions with Dr. B. These sessions, also offered online, can answer any specific questions on online safety and parenting in general. Sign up and receive special bonus products with your purchase.

I’m the mom psychologist who will help you GetKidsInternetSafe.

Onward to More Awesome Parenting,

Tracy S. Bennett, Ph.D.
Mom, Clinical Psychologist, CSUCI Adjunct Faculty
GetKidsInternetSafe

Works Cited

[1] (2020) Mukbang https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mukbang

[2] (2020) ASMR https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ASMR

Photo Credits:

By Andrea Piacquadio from Pexels

By Quang Nguyen Vinh from Pexels

By Free Creative Stuff from Pexels

By Lee from Canva

By Pedro Sandrini from Pexels

By Ishay Botbol from Pexels

The GKIS Sensible Parent’s Guide to Twitch

May 17, 2020 by Jess Sherchan

Kids love Twitch! Twitch is a streaming service where expert players play video games while their subscribers watch. It’s a mystery to most adults how this could be entertaining. But with 15 million viewers per day and a $970 million sell price, it has clearly plugged into what kids want. In this GKIS Sensible Guide, we cover what you’ll want to know before letting your kids opt-in.

How long has Twitch been around, and how popular is it?

Twitch was released in mid-2011 as a branch of another streaming service, Justin.tv. Twitch was intended to be the more video game focused platform. Soon Twitch’s popularity surpassed Justin.tv, and it was bought by Amazon for a staggering $970 million.[1] Today, Twitch has around 15 million viewers per day and hosts around 2.2 million streamers.

Getting Started on Twitch

In order to create an account on Twitch, you must be 13 years of age or older. As Dr. Bennett describes in her book, Screen Time in the Mean Time, this age isn’t based on child psychology, but rather the COPPA law which protects kids from having their personal information solicited for marketing reasons. Parents are the best authority to determine the best age of adoption. To sign up, you must also provide an e-mail address, a username, and a password. Once you’ve created your account, you may begin personalizing your profile. It should be noted that there is no way to make your Twitch profile private, so anyone can access it at any time.

Once your profile has been set up, you can decide which of the two roles you want to take in Twitch:

Streamer: You stream the game you are playing so others may join and watch you play.
Viewer: You sit back and watch someone play a game. You can choose to interact with the streamer or other viewers via the text chat. It should be noted that you can view streams without having a Twitch account, but when you do this you may not participate in the text chat. You may also donate money to streamers.

Benefits of Twitch

As a streamer:

It’s a perfect platform to showcase one’s creativity.
You can interact with others who share the same interests.
Being a streamer can become extremely lucrative. For many it becomes a full-time job.
Many times, streamers will land sponsorships from companies and sent free items to utilize in their streams.

As a viewer:

Interacting with streamers and other viewers who have similar interests
Learning new strategies and tips from streamers who are skilled at certain games
Winning in streamer-hosted giveaways

What are the risks of use?

As a streamer:

Doxing: One of the main risks that plague Twitch streamers. This is when individuals find out personal information about a streamer and disseminate it online. Information such as real name, phone number, address, and more may be revealed and used maliciously.
Swatting: This is when a viewer finds out a streamer’s home address and calls the police with a false emergency. If it plays out the way the person who initiated the swatting intends, the police will raid the streamer’s house, visible to viewers through their computer cam. Obviously, this can be very dangerous to the streamer and the law enforcement professionals involved.
Harassment: Many times, streamers will be harassed by their own viewers via the streams text chat. This can be alleviated slightly by having a moderator in the chat who can ban offenders.

As a viewer:

Violence is prominent in many of the games that are streamed on Twitch. This may not be suitable for younger children.
Profanity is frequently used by streamers and also present in most of the text chats.
Harassment and cyberbullying may also occur from other viewers in the text chat.
Distraction is also extremely common among young viewers. They may become so engrossed in the stream that they end up spending more time than they should. This may lead to the neglecting of other responsibilities.

GetKidsInternetSafe rates Twitch as a yellow-light app, due to the possibility of harassment and the ease of communication with strangers. It is recommended that you watch the streams from the content creator before allowing your child to tune into streams. Our How to Spot Marketing Supplement to our free Connected Family Screen Agreement contains valuable information to educate your child to be a smart, informed online consumer.

Thanks to CSUCI intern, Jess Sherchan co-authoring this article. For further information on the possible career opportunities gaming and streaming can provide, please take a look at the GKIS article Is Your Child a “Professional Gamer.”?

I’m the mom psychologist who will help you GetKidsInternetSafe.

Onward to More Awesome Parenting,

Tracy S. Bennett, Ph.D.
Mom, Clinical Psychologist, CSUCI Adjunct Faculty
GetKidsInternetSafe.com

Works Cited

[1] Cook, James (2014) The Story of Video Game Streaming Site Twitch https://www.businessinsider.com/the-story-of-video-game-streaming-site-twitch-2014-10

Photo Credits

Photo by Ulricaloeb (Flickr)

Photo by Tim Bartel (Flickr)

Photo by Karl Hols (Flickr)

The GKIS Sensible Parent’s Guide to Animal Crossing

May 17, 2020 by Jess Sherchan

With the release of Animal Crossing for the Nintendo Switch, we have seen a large influx of videos related to the game flooding social media platforms. Nintendo categorizes Animal Crossing as a life simulation game. This genre of video games can best be described as games where the player is in charge of controlling an avatar and dictating the choices it makes in its life. This GKIS Sensible Guide delves into the details of the game to provide you with the information you need to decide if this menagerie of cute animals is right for your kids.

How long has Animal Crossing been around, and how popular is it?

The first iteration of Animal Crossing that was released in North America was introduced in 2001 for the Nintendo GameCube. The game met with critical acclaim and subsequent installments were made. The current installment is titled Animal Crossing: New Horizons and was released in March 2020 for the Nintendo Switch. New Horizons has been well received; it has already become the fastest-selling installment of the franchise. It sold five million digital copies in the month of March, breaking the record for most copies of a console game sold in a single month.[1]

Getting Started on Animal Crossing

Since Animal Crossing: New Horizons is exclusive to the Nintendo Switch, it must either be bought as a physical copy from a retailer or bought on the Nintendo eShop. Once the game has been purchased, start playing! Animal Crossing is rated PEGI-3, which means for players that are 3 years and older. However, Common Sense Media reviews from parents say it’s best for ages 8 years and older and the child reviews say for 6 years and older. Per the guidelines from Dr. Bennett’s book, Screen Time in the Mean Time, parents are the best judge of when their child is ready. As always, it’s prudent to research and play the game first to make your best-informed decision. Today’s GKIS Sensible Guide will help you in that department!

Features of Animal Crossing

Single-Player Mode

The player is taken to a deserted island where he must camp with 2 other campers. The player must then have a house built and build other structures around the island in order to entice other villagers to move in.
While there is no real set goal in the game, the player can decide what he/she wishes to accomplish.
In order to expand the player’s house and other buildings around the island, the player must put himself in debt to a racoon named Tom Nook that oversees the construction projects. One could say he is the villain of the game.
In order to pay off their crippling debt, players can find many ways to make money such as:

- Catch fish to sell.
- Catch bugs to sell.
- Plant fruit trees and then sell the fruit.
- Dig up fossils
- Run errands for islanders

Multiplayer Mode

While there is no dedicated multiplayer mode, there are ways to play with your friends in Animal Crossing. This involves either inviting friends to visit your island or venturing out to their island.
To visit another player’s island, you must have added them to your friends list. This is done by inputting a unique 12-digit friend code. This means that you won’t have random strangers visiting your island.
Once you’re visiting a friend, you can explore and meet the islanders that inhabit the island.
You can visit their shops, museum, house and anything else the island has to offer.
Players can then do all the activities that they enjoy on their island with the company of their friend.

The Benefits of Animal Crossing

The benefits of Animal Crossing are plenty. It teaches kids how to manage money, as they have to pay off their debt and, at the same time, buy new things to wear, furnish their house, or send as gifts. Animal Crossing also allows players to display their creativity, as there are countless ways players can customize the interior of their house and the island itself. Another benefit of Animal Crossing is that it helps kids foster healthy friendships, as they must live in harmony with the other villagers on their island to keep them from moving away.

The Risks of Animal Crossing

Animal Crossing has relatively low risks. There are no real instances of violence in the game, unless being attacked by a swarm of wasps counts as one. Nintendo has also made it so it is very difficult to interact with strangers through the game, though the workaround is to post your friend code on social media or message boards and have strangers add you through that. The chances of a kid having inappropriate interaction with a stranger are much lower than in other games. The greatest risk of Animal Crossing comes from how enthralling the game can become, and, in turn, causing kids to spend extended amounts of time playing. This can begin to cut into a kid’s study time and real-life social interactions.

GetKidsInternetSafe rates Animal Crossing as a green-light app due to the low risks and moderate benefits it provides.

Thanks to CSUCI intern, Jess S herchan for researching island-dwelling animals and co-authoring this article. If you would like to learn how to develop a stronger bond with your kids through gaming, please check out the GKIS article on co-playing!

I’m the mom psychologist who will help you GetKidsInternetSafe.

Onward to More Awesome Parenting,

Tracy S. Bennett, Ph.D.
Mom, Clinical Psychologist, CSUCI Adjunct Faculty
GetKidsInternetSafe.com

Works Cited

[1] NE, Brian (2020) Animal Crossing: New Horizons sold five million copies digitally in March 2020, most for any console game ever in a single month https://nintendoeverything.com/animal-crossing-new-horizons-sold-five-million-copies-digitally-in-march-2020-most-for-any-console-game-ever-in-a-single-month/

Photo Credits

Photo by Jess Sherchan