"The Internet meme is a force to be reckoned with. Whether it takes the form of a dancing cat or a college protest, the Internet meme is capable of changing the world. Until now, the meme has largely been derided as a procrastination tool for slacker college kids, but those very college students are working hard to challenge such unfounded stereotypes. Internet memes can take the form of videos, pictures, hashtags, or even simple words and phrases. Memes have been a part of society for a long time, but their influence has only increased with the rise of the Internet. Social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr allow users to share all kinds of content. Sometimes, a video or a picture will catch on with a small group of young Internet users. These users, often enrolled in college, recommend the content to others. Once in a while, this will spiral out of control, at which point the content officially reaches meme status. Memes range from silly to spectacular, but all share one thing in common: a remarkable impact on the culture of students in high school and college. The attitudes and behaviors of many students have been shaped by prominent Internet memes. Memes are typically humorous or satirical but there are many examples of more serious Internet memes."

"Boyd did not direct her concerns to the institutional actors who are reshaping the public sphere in ways that increase people's access to disinformation through platform capitalism. Boyd never once mentions a tech company or platform in her talk. As Benjamin Doxtdador points out, the disinformation that's fueled by hate groups and spread by algorithms is an embedded feature of the platforms we use. These platforms are nontransparent and outside of democratic control. Instead of mentioning the role of the platforms, boyd claims that media literacy is the problem because it causes people to "doubt what they see." Her SXSWEDU talk repeats a distorted depiction of media literacy as she claims that questioning media has led to social and political destabilization."

"When we ask students to challenge their sacred cows but don't give them a new framework through which to make sense of the world, others are often there to do it for us. For the last year, I've been struggling with media literacy. I have a deep level of respect for the primary goal. As Renee Hobbs has written, media literacy is the "active inquiry and critical thinking about the messages we receive and create." The field talks about the development of competencies or skills to help people analyze, evaluate, and even create media. Media literacy is imagined to be empowering, enabling individuals to have agency and giving them the tools to help create a democratic society. But fundamentally, it is a form of critical thinking that asks people to doubt what they see. And that makes me nervous."

"Falsehoods almost always beat out the truth on Twitter, penetrating further, faster, and deeper into the social network than accurate information."

"Those little networked devices we hold so dear have improved our lives. We have better access to our colleagues and bosses, information and the medical community. Technology has revolutionized the education industry. Plus, our kids benefit from the resources that apps and websites offer both in and out of the classroom. Digital devices simply make life easier. But do they make us holistically better as people? Do our relationships with our devices demonstrate health of body, mind and spirit? Most importantly, are our kids truly better off because they grow up with gadgets? This is a question worth exploring as the National Day of Unplugging nears. A challenge to completely ignore our devices for 24 whole hours, this annual event has become a family affair for many."

"Here Come the Fake Videos, Too Artificial intelligence video tools make it relatively easy to put one person's face on another person's body with few traces of manipulation. I tried it on myself. What could go wrong?"

"Can you read this entire article without checking your phone? Most teens can't. The majority of teens have a growing smartphone addiction, creating fear or anxiety when not using their devices. Repetitive smartphone use has led to health issues and new medical terminology such as "nomophobia," "text claw," and "iPosture." Unfortunately, many teens text or check social media while they drive, endangering themselves and others."

"Studies have shown that spending too much time on your phone is bad for your focus and mental health. As 2018 kicks off, there are some easy ways to build better digital habits. Try turning off notifications, kicking your phone out of your bedroom and even turning on grayscale"

On the heels of two large Apple investors urging the company to address kids' phone addiction, many parents may be wondering: How do I know if my child is addicted to his or her smartphone? And how can I prevent problematic overuse? There are reasons for concern. A 2016 survey from Common Sense Media found that half of teenagers felt addicted to their devices, and 78 percent checked their devices at least hourly. Seventy-two percent of teens felt pressured to respond immediately to texts, notifications and social media messaging. A 2015 Pew Research report found that 73 percent of 13- to 17-year-olds had their own smartphones or had access to one, and 24 percent said they were online "almost constantly.""

"Teens are spending more than one-third of their days using media such as online video or music - nearly nine hours on average, according to a new study from the family technology education non-profit group, Common Sense Media. For tweens, those between the ages of 8 and 12, the average is nearly six hours per day."

"A precipitous drop in the happiness, self-esteem and life satisfaction of American teens came as their ownership of smartphones rocketed from zero to 73% and they devoted an increasing share of their time online. Coincidence? New research suggests it is not. In a study published Monday in the journal Emotion, psychologists from San Diego State University and the University of Georgia used data on mood and media culled from roughly 1.1 million U.S. teens to figure out why a decades-long rise in happiness and satisfaction among U.S. teens suddenly shifted course in 2012 and declined sharply over the next four years."

"The global box office success of Black Panther is no surprise to UCLA sociologist Darnell Hunt. His annual report on Hollywood diversity argues that movies and TV shows with diverse casts and creators pay off for the industry's bottom line. Hunt says Black Panther, for example, "smashed all of the Hollywood myths that you can't have a black lead, that you can't have a predominantly black cast and [have] the film do well. It's an example of what can be done if the industry is true to the nature of the market. But it's too early to tell if Black Panther will change business practices or it's an outlier. We argue it demonstrates what's possible beyond standard Hollywood practices." The fifth annual diversity report is subtitled, "Five Years of Progress and Missed Opportunities," suggesting that America's increasingly diverse audience prefers diverse film and television content. The study reports that people of color bought the majority of movie tickets for the five of the top 10 films in 2016, and television shows with diverse casts did well in both ratings and social media."

"President Trump said Thursday that violent video games and movies may play a role in school shootings, a claim that has been made - and rejected - many times since the increase in such attacks in the past two decades.

"f you are reading this online right now, the machines have done their job. The algorithms served you this piece because you probably already know and believe in the ideas I'm about to put forth. This story bounced into your feed because what I am about to say might not be dramatically new to you. But it will likely reinforce that you are an intelligent person, whose ideas are well-thought-out and compatible with society. Or, more precisely, with the society you wish we were. Because that's the world we live in these days. We know what we know and we only reluctantly venture into the world of the unknown. We (and the machines) have identified who we are and we feel pretty good about it. Why change? Sure, every once in a while, we'll peek under the curtain to see what others are doing or saying but that's only to find fodder to ridicule those who disagree with us. The reality is that we are not much of a society today. We are a nation of individuals. There is a cable network for every interest, a website for every topic, a news organization for every political party, a social media feed for any ideology, and message boards for everyone else. It's easy to stay in your lane, even without the machines dictating what we see on Twitter, Facebook, or Google."

Last week, 17 people, most of them teenagers, were shot dead at a Florida school. Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School now joins the ranks of Sandy Hook, Virginia Tech, Columbine and too many other sites of American carnage. What do these shootings have in common? Guns, yes. But also, boys. Girls aren't pulling the triggers. It's boys. It's almost always boys. America's boys are broken. And it's killing us. The brokenness of the country's boys stands in contrast to its girls, who still face an abundance of obstacles but go into the world increasingly well equipped to take them on. The past 50 years have redefined what it means to be female in America. Girls today are told that they can do anything, be anyone. They've absorbed the message: They're outperforming boys in school at every level. But it isn't just about performance. To be a girl today is to be the beneficiary of decades of conversation about the complexities of womanhood, its many forms and expressions. Boys, though, have been left behind. No commensurate movement has emerged to help them navigate toward a full expression of their gender. It's no longer enough to "be a man" - we no longer even know what that means."

"Join Note to Self's Bored and Brilliant project to help you detach from your phone and spend more time thinking creatively."

""Smartphone notifications have turned us all into Pavlov's dogs," Greenfield says. The average adult checks their phone 50 to 300 times each day, Greenfield says. And smartphones use psychological tricks that encourage our continued high usage - some of the same tricks slot machines use to hook gamblers. "For example, every time you look at your phone, you don't know what you're going to find - how relevant or desirable a message is going to be," Greenfield says. "So you keep checking it over and over again because every once in a while, there's something good there." (This is called a variable ratio schedule of reinforcement. Animal studies suggest it makes dopamine skyrocket in the brain's reward circuity and is possibly one reason people keep playing slot machines.)"

"In the age of tweets, Instagram posts and Facebook invites, many argue today's youth is more interested in social media and the technology that accompanies it than what is going on in real life. While this belief is understandable, it's also worth noting how technology and social media have helped launch several political movements, and continue to contribute to political activism among young people."

"The term 'slacktivism', a portmanteau of slacker and activism, appeared for the first time in the year 2009. It refers to casual or armchair activism, also known as clicktivism. Those who support the latter argument, question the real impact of the anonymous justice seekers whose commitment goes no further than the Facebook wall. They see it as superficial activism, no more than social marketing. For José Manuel Guerra de los Santos, professor in Social Psychology at the University of Seville, this type of behaviour reflects the need for internal reinforcement. "We all like to reinforce our self-worth, our ego, by feeling that we are taking part in meaningful actions. Social media makes it easy for us to fulfil that need." For him, 'social desirability' is a key driver. Supporting a cause is socially desirable. "But what happens next with such people? Will they go to a demonstration, will they get more involved? I don't think so, because it is low-level solidarity.""