“9 Reasons Why Teens Sext,” 98–99
25 Myths about Bullying and Cyberbullying (Englander), 80
Activism and politics, 115–117
Black Lives Matter, 123–126
and cancel culture, 131–132
echo chambers in, 134
e-petitions, 118
and friendships, 126–127
hashtag activism, 117–119
and intolerance, 133
misposts, 130–131
participatory politics, 119–121
performative activism, 128–129
and silence as a side, 123–126
slacker activism (slacktivism), 117–119
and social expectations, 122–123
teens want adults to know, 134–135
and timing, 130–131
Adolescents. See Teens
Affordances, 28–29
Agency, digital, 162–163
in classrooms and school communities, 165–166
and collective agency, 164, 166
designing for, 166–167
keys for conversations about, 167–172
and personal agency, 163–164, 166
and proxy agency, 164–165
Agency argument, 156
Algorithmically reinforced filter bubbles, 28, 134
Alter, Adam, 33
Ambiguity and ambiguous acts, through social media, 84–88
Anonymity and anonymous posts, on social media, 11, 28, 73–74, 76, 78–79, 84, 116, 169
and cyberbullying, 78
as a thing of the past, 143
Apologies, and cancel culture, 154
Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), and digital activism, 119
Audience segmentation, on social media, 27, 67–68, 87, 144–145, 147
Authenticity, on social media, 44–45
and online friendship, 63–64
Autostart, and next video, 34
Availability, and online friendships, 56–57
Bailey, Moya, 118–119
Baker, Charlie, 110
Bandura, Albert, 163
Benign disinhibition, 78–79
Big Brain Time, 40
Birthday posts, 63
BlackAt accounts and stories, 77
Black joy, online depictions of, 49
Black Lives Matter movement (#BlackLivesMatter), 2–3, 77, 123–126
Blackmail, and sexting, 104
Blended civic expression on social media, 121, 122
Blumenthal, Richard, 144
Blum-Ross, Alicia, 7–8
Body image, and social comparison, 43–44, 195n9
BookTok, 3
Bounded civic expression on social media, 121, 122
boyd, danah, 20, 28, 48, 65, 86, 144
Brain, adolescent, 24
reward circuitry in the, 145–146
Bronfenbrenner, Urie, 26
Burdensome communication, 57–60
Call-in culture, 155
Cancel culture, 151–152, 153–155
and digital activism, 132
Canceling and cancellation, 82–83, 150–152
and digital activism, 131–132
Charles, James, 132
Child pornography, and sexting, 109–110
Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), 167
Cho, Andrew, 28
Choukas-Bradley, Sophia, 28, 43, 55, 74
Clicktivism, 119
Cisgender teens, and social media experience, 18
Civic agendas, and social media affordances, 76–77
Closeness, performing, 61–63
Coercion, and shared nudes, 105
Comments, performing closeness, 61–63
Common Sense Media, 4, 165–166, 179–180
Comparison, 41–44, 45–47. See also Social comparison
comparison quicksand, 41, 47, 63
Complexity over commandments, 12, 169
Consensual sexting, 99–102
Consent
and nonconsensual sharing of nudes, 105
Planned Parenthood’s (F.R.I.E.S.) definition of, 100
and sexting, 99–102
Constant connection, 28
Content, constant bombardment of, 33–34
Conversation keys, 168–173
asking over assuming, 168
complexity over commandments, 169
empathy over eye rolling, 168–169
normalizing without essentializing, 171
normalizing without minimizing, 171
Coronavirus, and screen time debate, 21–22
Cortisol levels, and taking a break from Facetime, 16
Cruelty, blatant, and social media, 81
and disinhibition, 78
and mental health crises, 80–81
and sexting, 104
and suicides, 80–81
Dark spiral, of mood, 46
Dating abuse, digital, 104
#DefundThePolice, 123
Depression in teens, and social media, 17–19
Developmental lens, adolescents’ digital lives viewed through a, 23–26, 29, 32, 34, 41, 43, 45–46, 71, 79, 87, 96–97, 98, 102, 103, 129, 133, 141, 142–143, 145–146, 163, 171
Diet culture, 43
Differential susceptibility, 22–23
Differentiated civic expression on social media, 121
Digital activism, 2–3
Digital agency, 162–163
in classrooms and school communities, 165–166
and collective agency, 164, 166
designing for, 166–167
keys for conversations about, 167–172
and personal agency, 163–164, 166
and proxy agency, 164–165
Digital Dilemmas Project, 3–4, 179–180, 190–191
analysis, 187–188
design-based field research (phase 1C), 182
educator interviews, 182 (phase 1B), 182
educator study (phase 1A), 180–182
participants, 183
privileging youth voices, 5–8
self-reported demographic information, 184
survey details and research topics, 2–5, 185–187
teen advisory council 6, 89, 112, 133, 169, 175, 180, 188–190, 188–190
youth surveys (phase 2), 182–182
Digital distractions, 38–39
Digital drama, 5. See also Social conflict, digital
Digital footprints, 2, 4, 137–138
adults as coauthors, 147–148
adults’ cautions about permanence, 139–140
and being canceled, 150–152
as beyond user’s full control, 146–147
and cancel culture, 151–152, 153–155
co-creation of, 146–147
collision of past, present, and future selves of teens, 141–142
and development of teens’ identities, 142–143
and forgetting, 152–153
and power of peers, 145–146
privacy risks, 155–156
and receipts, 148–150
and the right to be forgotten, 152–153
and ruined lives, 139–140
and “scroll-back method,” 140–141
teens want adults to know, 158–159
dependence, 32
and digital distractions, 38–39
digital metacognition, 51
and impulse control, 33–35
and insecurities, 46–47
and online communities, 40–41
rewards, 32–33
and self-regulation, 33–35
and sleep, 37–38
and social comparison, 41–44, 45–46, 47
and social connections, 35–37
teens want adults to know, 50–51
Digital lens, adolescents’ digital lives viewed through a, 23, 27–29, 171, 172
Digital lives, adolescents’
civic dimension, 123
and privacy, 155–158
and trust, 147
Digital metacognition, 51
Digital pacifier, 36
Digital sharing, 2. See also Sexts and sexting
Digital upsides, 3
Dines, Gail, 112–113
Direct messaging (DMing), 84
study server, 40–41
Disinhibition, 78–79
Distractions, digital, 36–37
Dming, 84
Dog tags, 48
Drama, 73–76, 81–88. See also Social conflict, digital
Dropping addresses, 88–89
Dulay, Noah, 120
Dunbar’s number, 65–66
Dweck, Carol, 154
Ecological model of adolescent development, 26
Eichhorn, Kate, 152
Eilish, Billie, 113
Elsaesser, Caitlin, 89
Emergencies, 68
Empathy over eye-rolling, 12, 168–169
End of Forgetting, The (Eichhorn), 152–153
Englander, Elizabeth, 80
European Union (EU), General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), 152, 153
Exposing, on social media, 82
Eye contact, and disinhibition, 78
and Finstas, 144–145
Head of Global Safety, 144
internal research on body image, 17–18
study of taking a break from 15–17
timelines as personal archives, 140–141
Feedback, social, 33
Finstas (fake Instagrams), 144–145
Fixed mindsets, 154
Flattery, 61–63
manipulative, and sexting, 104
Flow, 34
Forgetting, digital content and, 152–153
Fortnite (online game), 3
Foucault Welles, Brooke, 118–119
Friends and friendships, 53–71
and authenticity, 63–64
and availability, 56–57
bashing, 63
and flattery, 61–63
and honesty, 79
importance for teens, 54–56
inner circle of, 66–68
and online activism, 126–127
and public conflict, 69–70
and Private Stories, 87
and response time, 57–61
teens want adults to know, 70–71
“Gamer Minds Matter,” 35
Games, video, 34
and ambiguity in social media, 86
and Discord, 35
Gender
and digital well-being, 18
and social comparison, 41–44
and sexting, 107–108
stereotypes, and sharing of nude pictures, 107
Gender minority teens and issues of social media experience, 18
Geospecificity (geographic specificity), 74
Ginny and Georgia (Netflix series), 55
Girls
hacks for navigating sexting, 108–109
pressure and shame related to sexting, 108
Girls and Sex (Orenstein), 107–108
“Give the Animals and People a Voice!!!,” 119, 120
Gladwell, Malcolm, 118
Goffman, Erving, 65
Google, and the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), 153
Gray, Kishonna, 49
Group chats, 53–54, 87. See also Friends and friendships
Growth mindsets, 154
collective, 154–155
Habits. See Digital habits
Hale, Lauren, 38
Half-swipe, 61
Haraus, Alex, 120
Harris, Tristan, 32
Harrison, Tom, 166
Harvard University, Admissions, 137–138
Harvard University, Graduate School of Education, 179
Hashtag activism, 117–119
#Hashtag Activism (Jackson, Bailey, and Foucault Welles), 118–119
Health-focused apps, 48–49
Hiding in plain sight, 144–145
Highfield, Tim, 146
High schoolers. See Teens
Hinduja, Sameer, 79–80
Hirsch, Jennifer, 111–112
Hostility, blatant, and social media, 81
in front of a crowd, 82–83
Hunger Games (book series), 40–41
#IcantBreathe, 123
Identity in adolescence, 25, 65, 96, 129, 142–143, 145
iMessage, speech bubble in, 61
Impression management, 65
Impulse control, in teens, 33
Infinite scroll, 34
Inner circle, of social media friends, 66–68
cancellation on, 151
close friends story (feature), 67
fake (Finstas), 144–145
internal research on body image, 17–18
polls on, 116
searches on, 76
tea accounts and pages, 73–74, 76
Internet porn, and teen sex, 112–113
Irresistable: The Rise of Addictive Technology and the Business of Keeping us Hooked (Alter), 33
“I Used to Think . . . Now I Think . . . ,” 170–172
Jackson, Sarah, 118–119
Jenkins, Henry, 194n6
Jensen, Michaeline, 19
Journal of Adolescent Health, editorial on teen sexting in, 101–102
Kahn, Shamus, 111–112
Keys, conversation, 168–173
asking over assuming, 168
complexity over commandments, 169
empathy over eye rolling, 168–169
normalizing without essentializing, 171
normalizing without minimizing, 171
King, Martin Luther, Jr., 125
Lane, Jeffrey, 89
Leaver, Tama, 146
LGB teens, and sexting, 96
Life on the Screen (Turkle), 142–143
“Like” button, 33
Lincoln, Siân, 140–141
Livingstone, Sonia, 7–8
Lu, Jessica, 49
Marwick, Alice, 65
Massachusetts, and sexting, 109–110
Memories, “privileged” position, 24, 196–197n26
Mental health crises, and cyberbullying, 80–81
Me Too movement (#MeToo), 119
Microaggressions, and ambiguity in social media, 86
Mindsets, growth and fixed, 154–155
Minecraft, (online game), 3
Morozov, Evgeny, 117–118
Multitasking, 39
NBA players, late-night tweeting by, 38
Negroponte, Nicholas, 28
New York Times, 21
Normalizing without essentializing, 171
Normalizing without minimizing, 171
Nudes, 10, 11, 73–74, 93–114, 162, 164, 165, 189, 190. See also Sexts and sexting
Odgers, Candice, 19
O’Neill, Essena, 42
On delivered, 61
Online disinhibition, 78–79
Online subcommunities, hateful and harmful, 48
Orenstein, Peggy, 107–108
Organizing for America, 121
Outing people on social media, 89–90
Pacts, and digital life, 147
Parasocial relationship, 44
Parenting for a Digital Future: How Hopes and Fears about Technology Shape Children’s Lives (Livingstone and Blum-Ross), 7–8
Passwords, 159
Patchin, Justin, 79–80
Patton, Desmond, 89
Peer acceptance, validation and rejection, 24, 87
power of, 145–146
Performative activism, 128–129
Persistence, of digital content, 28. See also Digital footprints
Personal fable, and sexting, 98
“Personal Is Political on Social Media, The” (Weinstein), 126
Persuasive design, 32, 34, 198n1, 199n3
Physical cues, absence of, in text-based exchanges, 28
Planned Parenthood, and definition of consent, 100
Politics. See Activism and politics
Polls, online, 116
“Porn crisis, the,” and sexting, 112–113
Pornography, child, and sexting, 109–110
Predators, online, 71
Pressure
to send nudes, 102–104
to stay connected, 5
Polls, online, 116
Porn. See Internet porn, and teen sex
Prinstein, Mitch, 28, 55, 74, 197n35
Privacy risks, 5
and digital footprint, 155–158
Project Zero (Harvard), 2, 12–13, 180. See also Digital Dilemmas Project
Proxy agency, 164–165
Publicness
default, 28
quantified, 55
Quantifiability, of data, 28, 55–56
Quantified metrics, 55
Quizzes, online, 116
Racism, 49, 76–77, 117, 119, 123–125, 143, 207n26
“Random Acts of Kindness” account, 143
Reed, Lauren, 108
Reich, Stephanie, 55
Replicability, of digital content, 28, 82, 87, 99
Response time, on social media, 57–60
Rewards, from technology
and the adolescent brain, 24
unpredictable, 32–33
Right to be forgotten, 152–153
Rise of Addictive Technology and the Business of Keeping Us Hooked, The (Alter), 33
Robards, Brady, 140–141
Ross, Loretta, 155
Rowling, J. K., 131
Saudi Arabia, teens at the mall, 8–9
Screenshotting, 82
Screen time, 4, 5. See also Digital habits
active vs. passive, 21–22
and differential susceptibility, 22–23
teens want adults to know, 50–51
Screen time debate, and coronavirus, 21–22
“Scroll-back method,” 140–141
Searchability, 28
Secrets, and public outing, 90
Self-esteem, 45–46
Self-regulation, in teens, 33–34
Sexts and sexting, 94
“9 Reasons Why Teens Sext,” 98–99
adult responses to, 94, 110–112
alarmist school assemblies about, 101
and brain systems, teens’, 96–97
and broader peer norms, 106–107
and child pornography, 109–110
coerced, 95
consensual and wanted, 95
and consent, 99–102
consequences of, 97
frequency of, 97
and friends, 95–96
and gender stereotypes, 106
hacks, for girls, 108–109
legal considerations, 109–110
motives for, 98–99
nonconsensual sharing, 105
normalization, trend toward, 97
as a positive experience, 101–102
as a range of behaviors, 95–96
as risky behavior, 96–99
and sexual harassment, 103–104
and sexual identity, 96
shared without permission, 95, 104–106
and strangers, 95
teens want adults to know about, 113–114
and “the porn crisis,” 112–113
understanding teens’ decision-making about, 94, 96–97, 98–99, 111–112
and victim blaming, 110–111
Sexual harassment, cyber, 103–104
Shaming, on social media, 82, 131, 151–152, 182
Skinner, B. F., 32–33
Slacker activism (slacktivism), 117–119
Sleep, disrupted, 37–38
Smartphones, 8, 17–19, 37–38, 143, 168
persuasive design on, 34
maps (feature), monitoring, 55, 159, 167
polls on, 116
Private Story (feature), 67–68
push notification on, 61
Snap score, 55
Story (feature), 67–68
Social comparison, 41–44, 45–47
comparison quicksand, 41, 47, 63
Social conflict, digital, 73–77
and activism, 126–127, 130–131
and ambiguity, 84–86
and anonymity, 78–79
and attentive audiences, 76
blatant hostility, 81
and context, 88–89
in front of a crowd, 82–83
and cyberbullying, 79–80
jabs, digital, 86–87
policing of, 143
shaming, 82
and social media affordances, 76–78
tagging, 83–84
teens want adults to know, 90–91
Social media. See also Friends and friendships; specific forms
anonymous posts on, 11, 28, 73–74, 76, 84, 116, 143, 169
audience segmentation on, 27, 67–68, 87, 144–145, 147
authenticity on, 44–45
comments, performing closeness, 61–63
and depression in teens, 17–19
hiding in plain sight on, 144–145
publicness, 28, 76, 82, 89, 90
and social comparison, 41–44, 45–47
Social media policing, 143
Social norms, shifting, 153–155
Social perspective taking, 78–79
Social steganography, 144–145
Speech bubble, 61
Spiritual TikTok, 48
Steele, Catherine Knight, 49
Steinberg, Larry, 96–97
Stories (Instagram and Snapchat), 67–68, 87, 145
Stossel, Max, 32
Strangers, and sexting, 95
Streaks (Snapchat), 58–59, 162
Streetchat, 74
Stress levels, and taking a break from Facebook, 16
Suicides, and cyberbullying, 80–81
Tagging and untagging, 83–84, 89, 128, 141, 147, 157, 164
Tagging chains, 128
Task-switching, 39
Taylor, Breonna, 123
Tea accounts, 11, 73–75, 82, 88
Teaching Digital Citizens in Today’s World Research and Insights Behind the Common Sense K–12 Digital Citizenship Curriculum (Report), 182
Technoference, 36–37
Teens want adults to know, 12
about digital habits, 5051
about friendship dilemmas, 70–71
about online social conflict, 90–92
about sexting, 113–114
about online civics and politics, 134–135
about digital footprints, 158–159
Thunberg, Greta, 119
and 2020 presidential election, 116–117
persuasive design on, 33
Tulsa rally for Trump, 115–116
TMI (too much information), 64
TNG (transgender, nonbinary, and gender nonconforming) youth, 202n38
Toxic disinhibition, 78–79
Transformation Framework, 55, 74–75
Transgender teens, and social media experience, 18, 43, 108, 202n38
Trinity School (New York City), 77
Tulsa rally, and TikTok, 115–116
Turkle, Sherry, 142–143
Twitch, 86
Twitter, and online politics, 116, 117–119, 121
Violence, and pornography, 113
Well-being, and social media use, 16–19, 21–22, 38, 42, 134, 162
Wellness-oriented content, 48–49
Westbrook, Tati, 132
WhatsApp, 8
Workout videos, 43
Yau, Joanna, 55
YikYak, 74
Youth voices, privileging, 5–8