Teen Video Viewing Report

 Video content is ubiquitous in students' lives, and a recent report highlights its effects on adolescents. The report emphasizes the importance of teaching students to be savvy consumers of digital media, noting that while video can be educational, it can also spread misinformation. 

APA recommendations for healthy teen video viewing. (2024). American Psychological Association . https://www.apa.org/topics/social-media-internet/apa-adolescent-video-consumption-recommendations.pdf

Digital Practices for Reading Study

Researchers "used an academic resilience framework to explore how adolescents from low socioeconomic status (SES) backgrounds overcame adversity and achieved high levels of reading proficiency. Our main aim was to investigate whether digital reading practices and reading engagement (reading motivation and metacognitive strategies) could act as protective factors, individually and collectively, promoting academic resilience among students with low SES. Digital reading was related to reading motivation, and then to better awareness of metacognitive strategies, which in turn was shown to be linked to increased reading achievement for all students.

Jang, E., Seo, Y., & Brutt-Griffler, J. (2022). Building Academic Resilience in Literacy: Digital Reading Practices and Motivational and Cognitive Engagement. Reading Research Quarterly. 

https://doi.org/10.1002/rrq.486 

Family media use study

 A national study found that completing a family media use plan was not linked to statistically significant changes in media rule engagement among adolescents. An editorial that was published alongside the study delved into some of the reasons that can complicate using a family media use plan in adolescents including the increasing use of screens in both education and socialization as well as the urge to fight against parental expectations.

Moreno M, Binger K, Zhao Q, Eickhoff J. Effect of a family media use plan on media rule engagement among adolescents. JAMA Pediatrics. January 25, 2021. Epub ahead of print. doi:10.1001/jamapediatrics.2020.5629

https://www.contemporarypediatrics.com/view/do-media-plans-impact-teen-media-use

Reading in Adolescence Strengthens Educational Achievement Later On

The findings from this study suggest that book-oriented socialization, indicated by home library size, equips youth with life-long tastes, skills and knowledge. This study documents the advantageous effects of scholarly culture for adult literacy, adult numeracy, and adult technological problem-solving. Results show that growing up with home libraries boosts adult skills in these areas, beyond the benefits accrued from parental education or own educational or occupational attainment.

Sikora, J., Evans, M. D. R., & Kelley, J. (2018). Scholarly culture: How books in adolescence enhance adult literacy, numeracy and technology skills in 31 societies. Social Science Research, 77, 1-15. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ssresearch.2018.10.003

Association of Digital Media Use and ADHD Symptoms

This study published in in JAMA suggests that such frequent use of digital media by adolescents might increase their odds of developing symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. In this longitudinal cohort survey study of adolescents aged 15 and 16 years at baseline and without symptoms of ADHD, there was a significant association between higher frequency of modern digital media use and subsequent symptoms of ADHD over a 24-month follow-up.

Ra, C. K., Cho, J., Stone M. D., De La Cerda, J., Goldenson, N. I., Moroney, E., Tung, I., Lee, S. S., & Leventhal, A. M. (2018). Association of digital media use with subsequent symptoms of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder among adolescents. JAMA, 320(3), 255–263. https://dx.doi.org/10.1001/jama.2018.8931

Information Privacy Management for Adolescents

According to a nationally representative survey by Pew Research Center, American teenagers ages 12 to 17 care about their privacy. Even as youth share increasing amounts of information online (and have information about them shared by others), they also take steps to manage what can be seen and who can access it. It was also found that over two thirds of teen internet users have asked for or sought out advice on managing their privacy online. Teens are just as likely to reach out to their friends and peers as they are to reach out to their parents for advice. Also, overall, younger teens (those ages 12-13) are a bit more likely to seek out privacy management advice from any source than are 14-17 year olds. Similarly, girls are a bit more likely than boys to seek out advice on managing their privacy online from any source, and are also more likely to specifically seek out such advice from siblings or cousins and from friends or other peers. Although teens of all racial and socio-economic backgrounds are equally likely to seek out or ask for advice on privacy management generally, white teens and those from high-income and high-education households, are particularly likely to turn to their parents for advice.

Lenhart, A., Madden, M., Cortesi, S., Gasser, U., & Smith, A. (2013). Where teens seek online privacy advice: Teens often rely on themselves and the guidance they get from the websites they use to figure out how to manage their privacy online—but when they do seek advice, they go primarily to peers and parents. Washington, D.C.: Pew Research Center. http://www.pewinternet.org/files/old-media/Files/Reports/2013/PIP_TeensandPrivacyAdvice.pdf

Teens are Cyberbullying Themselves

According to a survey of middle and high school students in the United States, teens are bullying themselves online as a way to manage feelings of sadness and self-hatred and to gain attention from their friends. The researchers concluded that digital self-harm is a new problem that demands additional scholarly attention. A deeper inquiry as to the motivations behind this behavior, and how it correlates to offline self-harm and suicidal ideation, can help direct mental health professionals toward informed prevention approaches.

Patchin, J. W., & Hinduja, S. (2017). Digital self-harm among adolescents. Journal of Adolescent Health, 61(6), 761-766. https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2017.06.012