Social Media Safety Education: From Deepfakes and Sextortion to Hate and Cyberbullying

Outline

Content Outline (~3-5 min per section, 10 - 15 min for Q&A)
1. Origin Story
2. Social Media Motivated Violence
3. Introduction to the Buckling the Social Media Seatbelt System
4. Cyberbullying
5. Mental Health
6. Platforms and Deceptive Design
7. AI and Reality Distortion
8. Sexts, Sexual Harassment, and Human Trafficking
9. Hate Speech
10. Substance Abuse
11. Q+A

Handheld digital devices will be used for engagement throughout the presentation.

Outcomes

1. Identify and articulate the many nuanced risks associated with social media
2. Implement practical strategies to promote social media safety among students, families, schools, and communities.

Supporting research

Anti-Defamation League. (2024, June 11). Online hate and harassment: The American experience, 2024. ADL. https://www.adl.org/resources/report/online-hate-and-harassment-american-experience-2024

American Psychological Association (2023, May) Health advisory on social media use in adolescents. American Psychological Association. https://www.apa.org/topics/social-media-internet/health-advisory-adolescent-social-media-use.pdf

American Psychological Association. (2025, June). Artificial intelligence and adolescent well-being: An APA health advisory. American Psychological Association. https://www.apa.org/topics/artificial-intelligence-machine-learning/health-advisory-ai-adolescent-well-being

Cho, H., Cannon, J., Lopez, R., & Li, W. (2024). Social media literacy: A conceptual framework. New media & society, 26(2), 941-960. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444821106853

Gupta M, Jassi A and Krebs G (2023) The association between social media use and body dysmorphic symptoms in young people. Front. Psychol. 14:1231801. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1231801

Patchin, J. W., Hinduja, S., & Meldrum, R. C. (2023). Digital self‐harm and suicidality among adolescents. Child and adolescent mental health, 28(1), 52-59. https://doi.org/10.1111/camh.12574

Riehm, K.E., Feder, K.A., Tormohlen, K.N., Crum, R.M., Young, A.S., Green, K.M., Pacek,
L.R., La Flair, L.N. and Mojtabai, R. (2019). Associations between time spent using social media and internalizing and externalizing problems among US youth. JAMA psychiatry, 76(12), pp.1266-1273.

Thorn. (2025). Sexual extortion & young people: Navigating threats in digital environments. https://info.thorn.org/hubfs/ Research/Thorn_SexualExtortionandYoungPeople_June2025.pdf

Vogels, E., Gelles-Watnick, R., & Massarat, N. (2022). “Teens, Social Media and Technology 2022.” Pew Research Center, Washington, D.C. (August 10, 2022). https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2022/08/10/teens-social-media-and-technology-2022/

Vogels, E. (2022, December 15). Teens and cyberbullying 2022. Pew Research Center. https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2022/12/15/teens-and-cyberbullying-2022/