Behind Their Screens Quotes

“receipts are “proof screenshots, screen recordings, [or] messages saved on Snap[chat]” that provide evidence of an indiscretion.”
― Emily Weinstein, Behind Their Screens: What Teens Are Facing

“the prefrontal cortex (the part of the brain that handles self-regulation and thinking about the future) is still developing throughout adolescence.19”
― Emily Weinstein, Behind Their Screens: What Teens Are Facing

“A parent tells her teen, “Protecting your future is more important than a temporary ‘like’ on social media.” This may seem like wise counsel. Yet, it trivializes what is more immediately meaningful to teens on a developmental and even neural level.”
― Emily Weinstein, Behind Their Screens: What Teens Are Facing

“social steganography” or teens “hiding in plain sight” by posting public messages with layered meanings.”
― Emily Weinstein, Behind Their Screens: What Teens Are Facing

“The inevitable ups and downs, awkward and even regrettable moments of development are documented with unprecedented thoroughness.”
― Emily Weinstein, Behind Their Screens: What Teens Are Facing

“growing up with today’s technologies, teens say: “being able to express yourself more, you have more of a voice”; “You can show your feelings through social media”; “We get to express ourselves to a world of people who may have the same interests.”
― Emily Weinstein, Behind Their Screens: What Teens Are Facing

“identity formation is a primary job of adolescence.8 Sorting out who one is, could be, and wants to be happens through trial and error, by fits and starts.”
― Emily Weinstein, Behind Their Screens: What Teens Are Facing

“the opportunities for self-expression online meet the developmental impulse toward identity exploration.7”
― Emily Weinstein, Behind Their Screens: What Teens Are Facing

“adolescents who are primed to prioritize the chance for immediate peer connection over longer-term potentialities.”
― Emily Weinstein, Behind Their Screens: What Teens Are Facing

“Recognize that intense emotional reactions to social slights are expected, developmentally. When in doubt, validate teens’ feelings (“That seems really hard”). Consider that a break from tech might help, and what the costs might be. And resist the urge to conclude that everything they’re facing is too new and different to understand.”
― Emily Weinstein, Behind Their Screens: What Teens Are Facing

“The thing about tea pages is that they’re anonymous. So I think that’s given an outlet for people who don’t want to be mean outright. They send anonymous messages to tea pages . . . and that doesn’t have, like, any connection [to them]. It’s anonymous. So it’s an easy way to insult people or cyberbully people without being the cyberbully, publicly.”
― Emily Weinstein, Behind Their Screens: What Teens Are Facing

“For example, adults might point to data showing that late-night tweeting among NBA players is associated with reduced performance (fewer points and fewer rebounds) in basketball games the next day.22”
― Emily Weinstein, Behind Their Screens: What Teens Are Facing

“There’s a term for tech-based interruptions: technoference.10 The cost can be steep. Allowing tech interruptions conveys the message that what’s on the screen is more important than whoever is off screen and in the room.”
― Emily Weinstein, Behind Their Screens: What Teens Are Facing

“In some cases, the desire to appear digitally immersed is even strategic, as teens try to look busy rather than lost, awkward, or friendless in certain social situations. When phones are used in this way—like a “digital pacifier,” as some teens put it—they can send a message of unavailability that may backfire by preventing others from approaching.”
― Emily Weinstein, Behind Their Screens: What Teens Are Facing