Safe Surfing Squad

What does it mean to be a skeptic: Being a skeptic means not just believing things easily. It's about being curious and asking questions before you trust something. You want to see if there's good evidence before deciding if something is true or not.If it’s too good to be true, it probably is: If something sounds too perfect or too good to be true, it's usually not real. It's like when you see an ad for a toy that promises it can do everything, but when you get it, it's not as amazing as they said. It's a reminder to be careful and not get fooled by things that seem too perfect.Identify clickbait: By recognizing headlines or titles that are designed to grab your attention and make you click on them, usually by using exaggerated or misleading information. It's like when you see a title that says, "You won't believe what happens next!" but when you click on it, it's not as exciting as they made it seem. Being able to spot clickbait helps you avoid wasting time on misleading or unimportant information.Double check things that you are not sure about: If you're not sure about something, it's important to double-check it. This means taking the time to look for more information or asking someone you trust for their opinion. It's like when you're not sure if your homework answer is correct, so you go back and check your work to make sure it's right. Double-checking helps you make sure you're getting the right information and making good decisions.

Context and Bias
Let’s say you were walking on the beach, asking what the best restaurant on the coast is. Someone might say that a local eatery is the best restaurant. Another person might say that their family-owned cafe is the best in town. Why do you think this might be?One way to understand people’s motives behind their actions can be by understanding the context of the event and their personal experiences. We can think about the context as the story of a person’s life, or everything that has led up to this current event.We know that this person’s family-owned cafe hasn’t been doing well recently. We can consider this and come to the conclusion that they are trying to promote their struggling business. This is the context of their actions.We can apply these skills to surfing the internet!When we are doing anything on the internet (reading articles, watching videos, etc.), it is important to realize who is making the content, which is part of the context. Remember that context is background information, or a story detailing all the events that have led up to the present. Through understanding the context of an event, we can understand bias.Seek Different Perspectives
When we identify bias, we should find different perspectives on the same topic to understand the full story. Knowing that people’s backgrounds and identities influence and shape their actions, we can come to understand why people choose to do the things they do.For example, if we are considering buying a new camera online, we should look at online blogs, YouTube videos, and reviews. One source might compliment its ability to submerge underwater, while another source might say its video quality isn’t the best. These two different perspectives are looking at different functions for different purposes. We should consider what is best for our purposes and continue from there.Seeking different perspectives may take more work, but the outcome will be beneficial long term. Most of the time, different perspectives may cause us to change our thoughts for the better!Inconsistency and Credibility
When surfing the internet, you should also look for inconsistencies throughout your sources. Let’s say that a relatively well-known blog says that a certain makeup brand is the best on the market, but online reviews are mostly one and two stars. Which source should you believe?If you look further into the issue, you may find that the blog was sponsored by that makeup brand. Knowing this fact, we should believe the online reviews instead of the blog.This is just one way to understand sources, but looking into the context of a source, we will be able to figure out what the most reliable source is. Always make sure to trust the most reliable and credible source for the most accurate information. Some credible sources can be peer-reviewed journals, .org or .gov websites, textbooks, etc. Otherwise, you might be given facts that are just plain wrong!

For Parents:
What is mental wellness? Mental wellness is defined by a stability and ability to healthily take on challenges, stress, and changes in one’s life. Technology has been a negative influences on mental health all around the world, and its most significant victim? Our youth.Technology has been a humongous advantage in our lives - transforming our lives for the better, but also…unfortunately…for the worse.As our youth is constantly being exposed to social media, strangers on the internet, and inappropriate content - it has a direct correlation with our mental wellbeing. A meta-analysis showed that some risks of social media intake were lower risk perception, parental conflict, social withdrawal, and an impaired view and development or morals/ethics.We can imagine the effect this has on us, being withdrawn socially can detrimentally affect our relationships with people close to us, such as family and friends. We are drawn to our screens, being isolated even in social settings, our attention spans have shortened, and our sleep schedules…don’t even mention that!As youth, we also idolize the media in our lives. We follow stereotypes and tend to conform to aesthetics that influencers idolize. Our self-esteem, self-identity, and self-efficacy are directly affected through media and its applications.We also see the effects in a more biological stance. For example, blue light is extremely harmful to one’s visual health and hinders one’s circadian rhythm. It throws the body off of its normal sleep cycle and further deprives youth of sleep. When was the last time you got over 8 hours of sleep?We also see a correlation of increased technology time and cardiovascular disease and obesity. Due to our need to constantly be on our screens, we’ve limited time to go outside and be active. This has resulted in our inability for exercise and has affected our health and lifespan.For Kids:
To start off, what is mental wellness? Mental wellness is when we can get back up even after something hurts us. But, in today’s world, technology has had a negative impact on our mental wellness.Even though technology is good, it also has its bad parts that affect our everyday lives.With social media today we have limitless access to anything: want to see a cat dancing to a CoCoMelon song? Sure. Vine compilations from 2012? Definitely. How to make dumplings in the shape of Big Hero 6? Easy peasy. But this easy access to anything can be bad for youth.We may see things as less dangerous, have a weaker connection with family and friends, and even have an impaired view on morals and ethics. Due to these consequences, we sacrifice our ability to create our own identity. We want to copy things and people we see online.Due to blue light we also suffer from reduced amounts of sleep and rest. Our body produces less chemicals that allow us to rest more easily. Recall a time you last had over 8 hours of sleep…Our eyesight also gets much worse with exposure to blue light and we have increased risk of heart attacks, obesity, and higher stress.Instead, we should be active outside - touch grass and play some tag! Surf social media safely and in good amounts.Sources:
Silvani MI, Werder R, Perret C. The influence of blue light on sleep, performance and wellbeing in young adults: A systematic review. Front Physiol. 2022 Aug 16;13:943108. doi: 10.3389/fphys.2022.943108. PMID: 36051910; PMCID: PMC9424753.
Qiu Z, Jia X, Fu Y, Yang Y. Screen time in the development of cardiovascular diseases: A two-sample Mendelian randomization study. Nutr Metab Cardiovasc Dis. 2024 Mar;34(3):706-717. doi: 10.1016/j.numecd.2023.09.029. Epub 2023 Oct 4. PMID: 37996370.

Being careful on social media
These days, social media is a common way of communication and is only continuing to grow. However, even popular social media apps like Snapchat, Tik tok, Instagram, Discord, and Youtube can be dangerous if not used properly. Remember that not everyone is who they say they are, since social media is a place where such people can hide their true identity and be someone they truly aren’t. Because of this, always double check when accepting follow requests or messages from people you don't know in real life. Also think twice about posting something impulsive, such as something embarrassing of you or your friends, since once it's posted it's hard to take back. Social media can be fun when used properly!
Knowing who you are communicating with
All people have access to social media these days, ranging from your friends and parents to creeps and stalkers. Most times, social media is a common way of communicating with friends and looking at friend’s lives through posts. However, communicating with people you do not personally know can be consequential. When using social media platforms, make sure you aren’t contacting any accounts who seem suspicious and do not have any mutual followers. In our generation, many people talk to seemingly friendly accounts for attention or love, but oftentimes these are the most dangerous, as these strangers can gain your personal information and take advantage of you.
Look out for bots or catfishers on social media
Bots and catfishers are popular on social media as well. Bots are automated accounts programmed to engage with accounts as if they are real people, mimicking behavior such as liking posts, commenting, and sending messages. Meanwhile, catfishers are real people who create fake profiles t o deceive others. These accounts are made of photos and information that does jot belong to them. To protect yourself from being scammed or harmed, Verify the authenticity of accounts before engaging with them, especially if they're asking for personal information or trying to make conversation about suspicious topics. Bots are automated accounts so look out for accounts with few followers, generic profile pictures, and repetitive comments. As for catfishers, it may be more difficult. But be aware of discrepancies in what they post and what they say about their lives. Trust your instincts – if something feels off, it's better to err on the side of caution and report or block the account. It is always better to be safe than sorry!
DO NOT SHARE PERSONAL INFORMATION
Many feel as if social media is a safe space, and it often can be with the right group. By making sure that you personally know everyone you are contacting through social media platforms, it ensures that your identity and personal information are being protected.Careless actions such as sharing personal information like your house address, phone number, school, and family information in public outreaches is the same as a bank teller sharing the bank vault code to a robber. The chances of consequences occurring are small, but that is a risk you shouldn’t be willing to take. When that information gets into the wrong hands, strangers on the internet can take advantage of that information to stalk you or create fake accounts through your identity.The internet reaches a very wide audience and the information can spread rapidly. Therefore, it is always important to keep important information to yourself. Real life examples would include popular influencers who comment or say bad things, and those bad things get spread around the internet, resulting in them having bad reputations.
BE NICE
Being nice on the internet is important! It helps you make friends and also prevents bad things from happening. Some people on the internet are sensitive and will take things you say to a personal level and can threaten you. Being nice is a common courtesy on social media platforms but more importantly in the real world. Prohibiting yourself from commenting degrading or negative things, making fun of a post to your friends, and saying and posting things about a sensitive topic. Although you may think it is funny in the moment, think about the long term effect. Careless actions like these can result in you losing friends and having a bad reputation.