There’s been a lot of debate recently about how smartphones affect young people’s mental health. But this important conversation rarely mentions how our devices and social media are fueling another epidemic: gun violence.
I’ve spent more than a decade studying how young people’s activities on social media can spill over into physical violence offline. Gun violence is arguably the No. 1 cause of death for American children and teenagers. So why isn’t it part of our conversations about how smartphones and technology impact young people?
We often think of online spaces as separate from the “real world.” But this distinction makes little sense when nearly all teens are online daily, consuming hours of social media content, and carrying their devices everywhere they go. The “digital streets” are where they interact, create, exchange ideas, and build community—and where they express grief, anger, and despair, taunt and threaten each other, and jostle for status.
Read the full article at Newsweek.
This article was produced by Footnote in partnership with the University of Pennsylvania.
