5 Things You Can Do About Social Media & Teen Mental Health In our Featured Article: Social Media & Teen Mental Health, we discuss how shaming, cyberbullying, body image, and feeling excluded or “missing out” can lead to lowered mental health for teens. Here are five things that you can do to help yourself and others regarding social media and mental health. First, consider yourself. Make sure you occasionally step back and consider the nature of your relationship with social media. Does social feedback on sites like Instagram of Snapchat hurt your self confidence? Do you find that your comparison

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Featured Article: Social Media & Teen Mental Health As teens, we experience life with greater independence. We define ourselves based on what we think is most important. We see ourselves as separate from our parents and caregivers. We gain a sense of ownership over who we are and who we want to become. That is part of the reason why we are drawn to social media. Sites like Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook give us the freedom to be whoever we want to be online, and interact with others freely. According to Pew Research Center, three quarters of all teens (75%)

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iDrive Student Advisory Board: Teen Suicide Prevention Week 9/10-16 Coming up, September 10-16, is Teen Suicide Prevention Week. Teen suicide is, tragically, an immense and growing issue, and in recent years, it has entered the public eye. However, more can always be done to prevent teen suicide and to recognize signs of depression before anything drastic is done. That’s why the iDrive Student Advisory Board is launching this awareness campaign: Click or tap on the image above to download and save it to your computer or device. Share this image on social media to raise awareness. Add #TeenSuicidePreventionWeek and tag

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iDrive Agents: How to Be a Social Media Champion In our article College Readiness: What You Need to Know About College Admissions, we talked about the importance of building a positive social media presence. As an iDrive Agent, your participation in social media campaigns and initiatives not only helps raise awareness of important issues, it helps you to build the type of positive online presence that colleges seek. We’ve talked to teens across the nation about the issues that matter to them most. Top issues include teen suicide prevention, (not) texting while driving, gender equality and respect for people from

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Featured Article | College Ready: What You Need to Know About College Admissions High school seniors are embarking on the 2017-2018 school year with the finish line in sight. For some seniors, this means that they are in the home stretch whereas other students may feel like they are frantically sprinting to make multiple deadlines by writing essays, submitting college applications and applying for scholarships. High school juniors may also feel the time crunch this school year as they aim to raise their GPA and ramp up on their well-roundedness by signing up for extracurricular activities. College admissions exams such

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College Ready: What You Need to Know – College Admissions Exams High exam scores can improve your chances of getting into your dream school. Even if you are not planning on attending an elite four-year university, a strong score can open doors of opportunity. Test prep is your best friend. In fact, with the new education law into effect called the Every Student Succeeds Act, or ESSA, states that require high school students to take SAT and ACT tests are becoming more common (Kapelke-Dale, 2017). One upside to this is that students have an opportunity to practice taking lengthy and

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Snapchat Updates – Snap Maps: GPS Sharing or Ghost Mode? In the past few years, Snapchat has become one of the most commonly used phone applications in the U.S. and around the world. There are one hundred million daily active Snapchat users, whether they’re posting pictures of food on their stories, sending selfies to their friends, or keeping streaks and raising their Snapchat scores (Omnicore, 2017). Millions of users feel safe and comfortable on this popular app–especially teens: research shows that 75% of American teenagers use Snapchat (NORC at the University of Chicago, 2017). The unique appeal of Snapchat is

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Senate Investigates Online Classified Ads for Trafficked Minors The U.S. economy operates on a system of supply and demand. Online classified websites allow people to buy and sell their goods and services to the general public and promote employment opportunities. These platforms allow the economy to thrive, yet without proper safeguards and a watchful eye, these sites may also aid in criminal enterprise. On January 5, the U.S. Senate released an investigative report, “Backpage.com’s Knowing Facilitation of Online Child Trafficking,” that asserts that Backpage.com has had a hand in facilitating the supply and demand for minors for commercial exploitation. Findings

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