Do you know what Streaks are? Snapchat has something they call Snapstreaks that count the consecutive days you send a Snap to the same person. My daughter has some Snapstreaks that are more than 200 days long. To keep a "streak" going both people must send a Snap back-and-forth within 24 hours.
I've learned from the teens I've talked to that Snapstreaks don't necessarily signify a deep or special relationship. The number of "streaks" your kids have going at any one time may surprise you. This happened to me. Tessa (my daughter) and I were headed out on a week-long trip together and I asked that she leave her cellphone at home so as to mitigate some of the tension that sometimes arises between us around the phone. Tessa's first response was to be concerned about her "streaks" — it turns out she had 40 Snapstreaks going. I was shocked. I wondered how she had the time to communicate individually with 40 different people every day. So we discussed it and in fact, she informed me that she sends a Snap to all 40 people at once, sort of like a cc. My co-producer's 17-year-old has 5 Snapstreaks going and when she asked him if he just sends them all the same one, he said no, that he likes to send a personal Snap to each of his 5 friends. What some kids do when they are forced to part with their phones is they give a friend their Snapchat password to have them keep their "streaks" going. Tessa and I had a nice, calm discussion about all this and in the end, she easily agreed to leave her phone at home.
This week we are talking about "streaks' for Tech Talk Tuesday. Here are some questions to get the conversation started:
a snap picture from co-producer Lisa Tabb's teen daughter
As well as our weekly blog, we publish videos like this one every week on the Screenagers YouTube channel
Do you know what Streaks are? Snapchat has something they call Snapstreaks that count the consecutive days you send a Snap to the same person. My daughter has some Snapstreaks that are more than 200 days long. To keep a "streak" going both people must send a Snap back-and-forth within 24 hours.
I've learned from the teens I've talked to that Snapstreaks don't necessarily signify a deep or special relationship. The number of "streaks" your kids have going at any one time may surprise you. This happened to me. Tessa (my daughter) and I were headed out on a week-long trip together and I asked that she leave her cellphone at home so as to mitigate some of the tension that sometimes arises between us around the phone. Tessa's first response was to be concerned about her "streaks" — it turns out she had 40 Snapstreaks going. I was shocked. I wondered how she had the time to communicate individually with 40 different people every day. So we discussed it and in fact, she informed me that she sends a Snap to all 40 people at once, sort of like a cc. My co-producer's 17-year-old has 5 Snapstreaks going and when she asked him if he just sends them all the same one, he said no, that he likes to send a personal Snap to each of his 5 friends. What some kids do when they are forced to part with their phones is they give a friend their Snapchat password to have them keep their "streaks" going. Tessa and I had a nice, calm discussion about all this and in the end, she easily agreed to leave her phone at home.
This week we are talking about "streaks' for Tech Talk Tuesday. Here are some questions to get the conversation started:
a snap picture from co-producer Lisa Tabb's teen daughter
As well as our weekly blog, we publish videos like this one every week on the Screenagers YouTube channel
A growing concern I have is how young girls, some as young as 7 or 8, are becoming fixated on beauty products. In Screenagers Elementary School Age Edition, we show clips of elementary-aged girls talking excitedly about their favorite skin and makeup items. In today's blog I look at how this beauty obsession is reaching younger ages, fueled by pervasive beauty ideals on social media.
READ MORE >
Ever hop on social media to escape boredom, only to feel even more drained afterward? Teens know this feeling all too well. A college student recently told me how frustrated she is by the habit: “I turn to Instagram out of boredom, and it ends up just making the day feel emptier.” This week’s blog dives into a powerful insight from Dr. Katie Davis, a leading researcher on teens and tech, who calls this pattern “boredom in, boredom out.”
READ MORE >
If ever there was a time to talk about the topic of TikTok with our kids and students, now is it. Yes, it happened. Saturday, the TikTok app went dark in the US, a day after the ban approved by Congress was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court. Then, by Sunday, it returned. In today's Tech Talk Tuesday, I am providing questions you can use to discuss this with kids and teens.
READ MORE >for more like this, DR. DELANEY RUSTON'S NEW BOOK, PARENTING IN THE SCREEN AGE, IS THE DEFINITIVE GUIDE FOR TODAY’S PARENTS. WITH INSIGHTS ON SCREEN TIME FROM RESEARCHERS, INPUT FROM KIDS & TEENS, THIS BOOK IS PACKED WITH SOLUTIONS FOR HOW TO START AND SUSTAIN PRODUCTIVE FAMILY TALKS ABOUT TECHNOLOGY AND IT’S IMPACT ON OUR MENTAL WELLBEING.
