Generative AI can contribute to a wide range of possible risks and harms that can affect the emotional and psychological well-being of others, their financial state of affairs, and even their physiological health and physical safety.  Both users and platforms (as well as government!) have a clear role to play, and I’ve explained their respective charges in a previous post. Researchers, practitioners, and attorneys have reached out to us to learn exactly how generative AI concerns manifest, and so I wanted to highlight some of the major misuse cases we’ve seen recently. These examples prov ..read more

A school counselor who works in a private school in California recently emailed me to ask for help as it relates to students and the misuse of specific AI bots. Her concerns, though, did not surround general purpose AI bots like Snapchat’s My AI or Microsoft’s CoPilot, but rather those that are specifically used as virtual girlfriends and virtual boyfriends. I thought it would be instructive for other youth-serving professionals (and parents and guardians) to make sure they were up to speed on the positives and negatives of these in-app “software agents” or “artificial conversational entities ..read more

This study surveyed a nationally-representative sample of 5,005 middle and high school students between the ages of 13 and 17 in the United States. Data were collected in May and June of 2023. Click on the thumbnail images to enlarge. Cyberbullying Victimization. We define cyberbullying as: “Cyberbullying is when someone repeatedly and intentionally harasses, mistreats, or makes fun of another person online or while using cell phones or other electronic devices.” Approximately 55% of the students in our 2023 sample reported that they experienced cyberbullying at some point in their lifetimes ..read more

This Fact Sheet provides a summary of important court cases and pending legislation that can help school administrators evaluate and improve their current cyberbullying policies and procedures. Hinduja, S. & Patchin, J.W. (2024). Cyberbullying legislation and case law: Implications for school policy and practice. Cyberbullying Research Center. Retrieved [insert date], from https://cyberbullying.org/cyberbullying-legal-issues.pdf Download PDF The post Cyberbullying legislation and case law: Implications for school policy and practice appeared first on Cyberbullying Research Center ..read more

Last winter when Sameer and I were writing the third edition of Bullying Beyond the Schoolyard (published last fall!), we spent quite a bit of time searching for unique examples of cyberbullying to include in the book. One of the more interesting cases I came across involved a 14-year-old girl from Beal City, Michigan. I hadn’t thought much about this case since researching it over a year ago, until I recently saw a mention of it on social media. Coincidentally, then, a few days later a video appeared on my TikTok For You page from a creator who makes fascinating short videos of remarkable cou ..read more

We’ve updated our award-winning, best-selling book and hope you check it out, given that so much has changed since the 2nd edition. We remain fully committed to supporting educators, youth mental health professionals, families, community leaders, and others who serve young people as they navigate social media and gaming issues and seek to promote well-being and the positive use of connected technologies. You’ll see how we have endeavored to share with you the latest research and actionable strategies you can implement to truly move the needle. Read more below, and let us know if you have any q ..read more

Here at the Cyberbullying Research Center, we routinely collect data from middle and high school students so that we can keep on top of what they are experiencing online. Over the last two decades, we have completed about twenty unique studies of teens and tweens in the United States involving more than 30,000 subjects. And that number doesn’t include the handful of studies we have done of youth in other countries, or of adults who have experienced online abuse or who work with adolescents who have. Collecting, analyzing, and summarizing data into up-to-date and meaningful resources for those ..read more

In my last piece, I discussed how some legislation in various US states has been proposed without careful consideration of the contributing factors of internalized and externalized harm among youth. More specifically, I expressed concern that the complexities surrounding why youth struggle emotionally and psychologically demand more than simplistic, largely unenforceable solutions. We recognize that these state laws are proposed with the best of intentions and are motivated by a sincere desire to support our current generation of young people. However, they may be more harmful than helpful. Le ..read more

There has been a flurry of activity related to new legislation intending to make social media and gaming platforms safer and more accountable to upholding expected standards of trust, security, transparency, and privacy. These laws are being proposed because of continued concern of possible ill effects of popular platforms on the well-being of young people. While an objective look at the research base provides a complex picture of mixed findings related to the positives and negatives of social media use, many legislators realize that this is a topic of great concern to families across the Unit ..read more

U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy issued an advisory earlier this year entitled “Social Media and Youth Mental Health.” In this public statement, Dr. Murthy summarizes the (limited and often methodologically shaky) research related to adolescents use of social media. His primary focus is on mental health, though other aspects of child wellbeing are also discussed (including cyberbullying, exposure to sexual content, and sleep problems). His research question is one he has increasingly heard from parents: “Is social media safe?” The answer, as you can imagine, is rather complicated. Surgeon ..read more