So what are parents to do? The first step is to cultivate what Above the Fray calls digital empathy.
Digital empathy is the ability to consider what teens’ lives are like now with pervasive technology, where every good and bad day has the potential to be broadcast to hundreds and thousands, and bullying is no longer confined to the schoolyard.
Issues that may seem trivial to parents—getting “likes” on social media, playing games for ten extra minutes, talking to friends on Snapchat—are amplified for teens in ways that are difficult for adults to understand without conscious effort.
By Shawna Malvini Redden
