You wake up and the first thing you do is check your phone. Maybe you are not even fully awake yet, but the screen is already on and your thumb is already moving. By the time you put it down, something has shifted. You feel a little worse than when you picked it up, but … Read more
The Morning Ritual Nobody Questions Most of us reach for our phones before our eyes are even fully open. Notifications, messages, headlines, and endless updates are already waiting before we brush our teeth or say good morning to anyone in the room. What starts as a quick check stretches into ten minutes, then fifteen, then … Read more
Part 4: Deepfakes and Intimate Image Abuse When Technology Is Used as a Weapon Imagine waking up to a text from a friend that says, ‘Is this you?’ Attached is a video you never made. Your face is in it. The lighting looks right. The expressions look like yours. But you were never there, and … Read more
Part 3: Algorithm Traps and Harmful Content Someone Is Always Choosing What You See Open any social media app and watch the feed roll. It feels random at first, like a buffet where you decide what to sample. But the truth is that someone, or something, is doing the choosing for you. Algorithms are invisible … Read more
Part 2: Privacy Settings and Digital Footprints Privacy Settings Are Tools, Not Guarantees A teenager opens her phone, taps into Instagram, and carefully selects who can see her latest post. She checks the little lock icon. She picks her close friends list. She hits share, confident that only the people she chose will see it. … Read more
Part 1: Why Online Safety Matters Now More Than Ever The Internet Is Not Optional Anymore The internet was once a shiny new toy. You could log in, play a game of Tetris, or endure the screech of dial-up before chatting with strangers on AOL. For today’s teens and young adults, none of that sounds … Read more
