#Teen Advisory Group

[kingsbridgelibraryteens]

Teen Review Tuesday: The Cruel Prince by Holly Black

Here’s a review from Mona: 

This is a wonderful book if you love fantasy. I am not a big fan of fairy tales because the author uses complex language and created her own political issues within the kingdom, as well as many new characters that made it hard to keep up with. But the overall book was so interesting and I love the romance between Jude and Cardan.

#Teen Review Tuesday #The Cruel Prince #Holly Black #fantasy #fairy tales #Teen Advisory Group #TAG #virtual submission #Kingsbridge Library #NYPL

[pflibteens]

#teen advisory group #your voice matters

[the-likeable-wizard-mack]

Modern Fantasy Monsters: Summer Time!

I have said this once and I will say it again. ORC BBQ BLOCK PARTIES. Imagine all the food. Like seriously ALL of the food you could ever eat plus some really cool war stories from everyone who has them. Orcs trading recipes with other members of the family while they also share different smithing techniques.

Merfolk gathering at night at the beach when humans are our partying disguising themselves to look like humans to take food and drinks back down to their secret cove to have their own party that actually recycles all the excess wrappers that nonmerfolk don’t think about throwing away.

Werecreatures having close to turning bon-fire nights where they all commune with each other in their wildness. All were creatures are invited to be to feel as free as they are while in their shifted form.

Vampires who stay out of the sun already are used as cold-water-bottles since they’re naturally pretty cold due to being a vampire. So this makes them prime content for their non vampy friends hugging them with their warm bodies to try to cool down. Vampire emotion can range from okay to this practice or “I SWEAR IF YOU DO NOT GET YOUR SWEATY BODY OFF OF MEEEE!!!”

Demons that sneak into abandoned places to have wicked parties. Imagine a group of rambunctious demon teens sneaking into an amusement park after dark partying it up.

Merfolk using small kiddie pools as tanning beds to get a nice summer tan.

Witches that create mix potions with cool drinks for different effects. Mostly effects to cool the body…hopefully it won’t turn the person drinking the potion into a giant ice cube.

Dryads soaking In pools to keep their bodies from drying out due to the heat. Sometimes they have to stay inside due to hot wealthier advisories.

Dragons who sometimes stay out in the sun and let the sun shine on their scales to sunbath (like the big lizards they are lol) or they sit in a pool of water just to cool down from all the excess heat.

Giants that don’t mind their smaller friends using their arm and hands as a diving board. Though they are still careful that their friends are safe and won’t raise their arm too high for them to jump into the water.

#urban fantasy #suburban fantasy #urban magic #modern fantasy au #modern fantasy #modern au #fantasy writing #urban fantasy prompts #my writings #creative writing #writers block #writeblr #my writing #writing #writblr #writing exercise #orcs #orc #werewolves #werewolf #vampires #vampire #demons #demons and angels #merfolk #mermaids #mermen #forest dryad #dragons #fantasy giants

[digitaldoeslmk]

woe, idle hcs be upon you:

Mei has hyperpigmentation/melasma, and due to her rough and tumble disposition, she's covered in pockmarks from bruises, scrapes and the occasional acne;

Mei also has little budding horns on her head, she just covers them with her pigtails so they don't snag or catch into stuff;

she has several social media accts, her largest ones are her speedrunning stream channel and her bike racing and modding blog;

she finds dragon tattoos funny cus "lmao that looks like my great-cousin before he hit his growth spurt bahahaha!";

MK is nonbinary masc trans; he got blockers prior to his teens, but he stopped T only a year before the events of the series;

He has a small cloud handpoke tattoo on his ankle, he did it himself on a whim and its shaky and wonky but he treasures it a lot;

He has several piercing scars on his ears and nose, and on his eyebrows. He tried to make them last, but the moment he loses piercings like you wouldn't believe. He eventually stopped when one got torn during martial arts practice;

Hai'er isn't too bothered by pronouns, but he prefers masc adjectives;

He often wears traditional clothes, but he prioritizes practicality overall, especially qhen he's at his workshop;

He's incredibly strict when it comes to safety gear and measures. If you won't respect his labs and workshops for the SAW traps that they are, then be gone;

Pigsy used to ride bikes, he was big on wheels until he sold his pride and joy to get the remaining money he needed to open the noodle shop;

Pigsy and Sandy met on the bike "gang" scene, though it was less a gang and more several younger folk who enjoyed riding and causing the occasional trouble, but not real gang-related crimes;

And the two met Tang when he walked in on them doing a small fundraiser for the shop;

he became a regular on Pigsy's food stand and even rambled about his food to his colleagues;

Tang and Pigsy are in a steady relationship together, and they are both legal guardians of MK;

The monkeys at FFM call MK either "little sage" or "prince", much to his bashfulness. it's cute when the cubs do it though;

after MK had a proper introduction to the folks of the mountain, he's constantly invited to take part in their life. festivals, holidays, birthday parties, he always get invited to come over and join them for it;

before the novelty of the Monkie Kid went away, Pigsy had to install some safety measures on the noodles delivery app, cus people kept ordering noodles only to see MK and ask for signatures and such;

Mei is a restaurant's worst nightmare because she's So Picky when it comes to seafood;

'Mei' and 'MK' are nicknames they both got in the martial arts academy, their names are still Long Xiaojiao and Qi Xiaotian;

Sandy used to do boat transportation, but he retired to do engineering work instead. he got a degree thanks to Tang's encouragement and support;

Mei is on prep school for electrical engineering college; her parents wanted something more law-oriented but this was their compromise, since Mei didn't want to do college At All;

Tang is an academics jack-of-all-trades; he messed up his tenure so now he does academic book revisions, translations and editorials. Hes also affiliated with a number of libraries, and manages read-alongs, study groups and other events. On occasion he gets advisory jobs on documentaries and such, and he's even been asked on a few interviews;

He gets supremely insufferable about his curriculum if you get him talking about it;

He's got a near flawless memory of every book he's read, able to quote exact lines and identify the chapter and pages from them;

Tang speaks a number of languages, and sometimes takes students from fellow teachers who might need some private lessons to catch up;

His tenure was put on pause so he could help Pigsy with raising baby MK, and he doesn't regret his choice one moment;

#lmk au #by the book au

[seriousposting]

Editor's note: This story has been updated. It contains descriptions of violence against a nonbinary person.

Nex Benedict, a nonbinary high school sophomore died on February 8, the day after reportedly being beaten by classmates in the bathroom of their high school in Owasso, Oklahoma.

An anonymous source who identified herself as a friend of Benedict’s mother told local news outlet KJRH that the 16-year-old was attacked by three older classmates on February 7, adding that she believed Benedict died from “complications from brain trauma.” The source claimed that although Benedict couldn’t walk to the nurse on their own following the incident, school staff did not call an ambulance. According to KJRH, Benedict’s grandmother brought the student to the hospital after the altercation.

"I know at one point, one of the girls was pretty much repeatedly beating [their] head across the floor," the source told KJRH.

The Owasso Police Department (OPD) told KJRH that they were called to Bailey Medical Center on the afternoon of February 7. When they arrived, Benedict’s parents told police their child had been involved in a fight at school. OPD provided a statement saying that the cause of death has not yet been made public.

Since Benedict’s death on February 8, they have been repeatedly misgendered and deadnamed in media reports.

“As many are learning of the horrific news out of Owasso, OK, many news outlets, and therefore, many of you, are using their dead name,” the official X account for Oklahoma County Democrats wrote in a February 19 post. “Their name is Nex Benedict. They were a 4.0 student. They liked cats. They deserved to live. May they find peace now.”

Benedict’s grandmother, Sue Benedict, told The Independent that other students started bullying Nex at the beginning of the 2023 school year. The Independent notes that the 2023 school year started just four months which was a few months after a bill requiring public school students to use bathrooms that matched the sex on their birth certificates became law.

The LGBTQ+ advocacy group Freedom Oklahoma, as well as numerous progressive and LGBTQ+ media outlets (such as the Los Angeles Blade, Daily Kos, and LGBTQ Nation) pointed out that Benedict’s death comes as Oklahoma’s head education official, state superintendent Ryan Walters, continues to embrace anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric and policy. In January, Walters pushed an emergency rule to prevent students from changing the gender listed on their school records. Last month, he also appointed Chaya Raichik, the woman behind the virulently anti-LGBTQ+ platform Libs of TikTok, to the Oklahoma State Department of Education’s advisory council overseeing the state’s school libraries, despite Raichik not even living in Oklahoma. Last year, a Tulsa elementary school received a bomb threat after Raichik shared a video with the name and school of a local librarian. In 2022, Raichik similarly targeted a teacher in Benedict’s school district for openly supporting LGBTQ+ students who weren’t accepted by their families. The teacher later resigned following harassment.

Freedom Oklahoma remembered Benedict in a February 19 social media post, writing, “We wanted to reach out to our community grappling with this horrific harm, and the grief we all share as we reflect on the growing anti-2SLGBTQ+ sentiments out youngest community members are facing more often, fueled by state law and the rhetoric around it, words and actions of our state elected officials, and the growing platforms those in power are giving to people like Chaya Raichik who continues to use her platform in a way that leads others to threaten real harm at Oklahoma kids.”

In the post, Freedom Oklahoma also shared memories of Benedict from people who knew them. They described the 16-year-old as an unfailingly kind person who “always searched for the best in people.” Benedict, who The Independent reported, is of Choctaw ancestry, is described as a lover of rock music, who often bonded with others over headbanging. A post from Pittsburgh Lesbian Correspondents says that Benedict loved The Walking Dead, playing ARK and Minecraft, drawing, and reading. During the funeral, their family said they loved to cook and would often make up their own recipes. Nex was also a straight-A student.

A previous version of this story said that Nex was a member of the Cherokee nation. They were of Choctaw ancestry. We regret the error.

#op #trans #transgender #non-binary #choctaw #oklahoma #nex benedict #transphobia #hate crime #murder #child death #transphobic violence #uspol #news #links #them.us #bad news

[dasenergi-diary]

I don't know about other 50+ year olds, but there are parts of my life that I have completely forgotten about until something reminds me.

For over a decade there has been absolutely no one in my life to talk about books with. And now I have this brand new friend named @teenakp who has reawakened that part of me. It feels SO GOOD to talk books with someone. That part of me has been neglected for so long.

I was a librarian for 11 years! I loved reading since childhood. When I got my drivers license at 16, the first place I drove to by myself was the library. And my first job after high school was putting book away in the library.

As a Librarian, I was in charge of the teen (YA) services. I quickly became kind of a big deal. I spoke to the California State Assembly about teen library services. I gave workshops at Library conferences (ALA and CLA). I was interviewed by the School Library Journal about Teen Advisory Boards and our teen activities (a literary magazine, library sleepovers, and more). And many other activities.

I was also in charge of getting authors to speak at our library.

One author who came to speak at our library was S.P. Somtow. We became friendly and about a year later the author S.P. Somtow presided over the marriage of me and my wife (who was also a librarian) in the library surrounded by books. An author marrying two librarians in a library. As a wedding gift, S.P. Somtow used our names as characters in one of his books!

Two other authors I became friendly with are Will Shetterly and Emma Bull. They also came out to the library for a reading. One of my favorite memories - the wife and I went to a reading by Will Shetterly when his book "Dogland" was released. (I believe it was at Dark Delicacies in Burbank.) And S.P. Somtow happened to be there too! So after the reading, Will Shetterly, Emma Bull, S.P. Somtow, and my wife and I all went out to dinner together at a Thai food restaurant. Somtow did all of the ordering (he's from Thailand). It was a feast!

I tried to get Tim Powers to speak at the library. It didn't happen. But I did build a friendship with him. We were all part of a small group of fans in Southern California, and we hung-out several times with him and his wife Serena. (I also got to meet James Blaylock at one the gatherings.) Tim and Serena are great conversationalists with so many stories to tell. (Tim and Philip K. DIck were great friends, so I heard a lot about PKD.) And Tim would always work the room to make sure everyone got some personal time with him.

Another author I got to know and spend time with is Karen E. Taylor. We were actually LiveJournal friends back in the day. She invited me to her house and that was the first time I ever had German Potato Salad. It was amazing!!! I've tried it a few times since then, and none have tasted as good.

I also met the author Lisa Morton at Karen E. Taylor's house and we hit it off and became LiveJournal friends too. Check out Lisa's Wikipedia for all that she has done. She is amazing and I'm always happy to see her success. Anyhow, Lisa worked at a bookstore in North Hollywood. One day a turtle (not a tortoise) wandered into the bookstore from the street. It lived in her bathtub for a short while until I could get over there and take it off her hands. That was 2007. And we still have the turtle!

Of course I've met other authors like Ray Bradbury and Neil Gaiman. But the ones I mentioned here are the only ones I've had brief friendships with as a librarian.

#memories #authors #librarian #books

[clockworkspider]

Everytime I see/make a post about how current social media or the newer online/mobile games are predatory/harmful, I will occasionally see the parental advisory council types coming out of the woodworks being like "and this is why children/teens should now be allowed access to these content".

And like. I have mixed feelings about this because. On one hand, these things actively prey on teens. Kids are disproportionately harmed. On the other hand... it's not like adults deserves to be exposed to predatory designs either...

Kids deserves access to content that aren't predatory. They deserve to have fun games and social opportunities to connect with their peers online, and they deserve to have these things that aren't trying to sell them microtransactions or train addictive behavioural patterns or exploit their anxiety/depression for engagement or funnel them into political extremist groups.

And like... the other issue that I have when explaining harmful content to older adults is that... "harmful/predatory content" and "adult content" no longer means the same thing. And that mainly comes from the fact that online/interactive (social media, games) media functions on a completely different way from mass media (movies, tv, radio), and a lot of older folks either doesn't understand that or conflates the two.

A game isn't necessarily going to be more harmful to one's mental health and behavior if it includes sex and violence, it would, however, be harmful if it has a lot of dark patterns that encourages addiction or toxic/dangerous behaviors. Social media is harmful when it allows for bullying/hazing, or encourages sharing of personal information. And these are not immediately visible factors like "big boobies bad".

#clockrant #internet

[mariacallous]

Editor's note: A previous version of this article included, in reference to the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA), the following sentence: “The bill also bans youth under 13 from using social media and seeks parental consent for use among children under 17 years old.” The draft of KOSA that was approved by the Senate Commerce Committee on July 27, 2023 provides minors (defined as individuals under the age of 17) the ability to limit the ability of other individuals to communicate with the minor and to limit features that increase, sustain, or extend use of the covered platform by the minor, but it does not prohibit individuals under the age of 13 from accessing social media. KOSA seeks parental consent for use among children, defined as an individual under the age of 13, not 17.

With 95% of teens reporting use of a social media platform, legislators have taken steps to curb excessive use. With increasing digitalization and reliance on existing and emerging technologies, youth are quick to adopt modern technologies and trends that can lead to excessive use, especially with the proliferation of mobile phones. The increasing use of social media and other related platforms—most recently, generative AI—among minors has even caught the attention of the U.S. surgeon general, who released a health advisory about its effects on their mental health. Alongside increasing calls to action, big tech companies have introduced a multitude of parental supervision tools. While considered proactive, many of the same opponents of social media use have sparked doubts over the efficacy of these tools, and a range of federal and state policies have emerged, which may or may not align with the goals of protecting minors when using social media.

Currently, regulation of social media companies is being pursued by individual states and the federal government, leading to an uneven patchwork of directives. For example, some states have already enacted new legislation to curb social media use among minors, including Arkansas, Utah, Texas, California, and Louisiana. However, individual state efforts have not gone unchallenged. Big tech companies, such as Amazon, Google, Meta, Yahoo, and TikTok, have fought recent state legislation, and NetChoice, a lobbying organization that represents large tech firms, recently launched a lawsuit contesting Arkansas’s new law, and also challenged California’s legislation last year.

At the federal level, the Senate Commerce Committee voted out two bipartisan bills to protect children’s internet use in late July 2023—the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) and an updated Children Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA 2.0) by a unanimous vote. KOSA is intended to create new guidance for the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and state AGs to penalize companies that expose children to harmful content on their platforms, including those that glamorize eating disorders, suicide, and substance abuse, among other such behaviors. The other bill, COPPA 2.0, proposes to increase the age from 13 to 16 years old under the existing law, and establish bans on companies that advertise to kids. NetChoice also quickly responded to the movement of these bills, suggesting that companies, instead of bad actors, were being scrutinized as the primary violators of the issue. Still, others, including civil liberties groups, have also opposed the Senate’s legislative proposals, pointing to the growing use of parental tools to increase surveillance of their children, content censorship, and the potential to collect more and not less information for age-verification methods.

This succession of domestic activities emerges around the same time that the European Union (EU) and China are proposing regulation and standards that govern minors’ use of social media. This month, for example, China’s Cyberspace Administration published draft guidelines that restrict minors’ use of social media from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m., and limit its use to two hours per day for youth ages 16 to 18, one hour for those 8 to 15, and youth under 8 years old restricted to 40 minutes per day. The U.K. has become even more stringent in their policing of social media platforms with recent suggestions of pressuring behavioral changes among companies through fines and jail time for breaking laws. There are some differences in the age definitions of “minor,” with most proposals referring to individuals under the age of 18, but KOSA codifies minors as those under 17 years of age.

How states specify guidelines and the types of companies subjected to such scrutiny varies among the various state laws. In this blog, we examine five states’ laws with recent online privacy protections for minors and analyze their similarities and differences around the accountability of platforms, including applications, the role of parents, and age-verification methods as well as the opinions of minors about the proposals to curb their social media use.

Platform Accountability

The states of Arkansas, Texas, Utah, California, and Louisiana have varying definitions for what qualifies as a platform as part of their legislation, which creates some incongruencies when it comes to enforcement. Below are some comparisons of these states’ definitions of what constitutes a digital platform.

Arkansas’s laws offer the most explicit and exclusionary criteria for defining platforms. Companies focused on subscriptions, excluding social interaction, non-educational short video clip generation, gaming, cloud storage, and career development, fall under this definition. The state’s definition also excludes platforms providing email, direct messaging, streaming, news, sports, entertainment, online shopping, document collaboration, or commenting functions on news websites. These narrow criteria may result in most top social media platforms not meeting the definition. Further, short-form video clip generation exclusions could result in most major social media platforms (including WhatsApp and Signal, which both have a Stories function) being excised out of the definition.

Texas’s recently passed social media law defines such companies as “digital service providers” that facilitate social interaction through profiles and content distribution via messages, pages, videos, and feeds. Like Arkansas, it excludes services primarily focused on email, direct messaging, access to news, sports, or commerce content, search engines, and cloud storage. Under this criterion, Instagram would count as a “digital service provider,” but Facebook Marketplace would not.

Utah’s definition of a “social media platform” similarly excludes platforms where email, private messaging, streaming (licensed and gaming), non-user-generated news and sports content, chat or commenting related to such content, e-commerce, gaming, photo editing, artistic content showcasing (portfolios), career development, teleconferencing or video conferencing, cloud storage, or educational software are the predominant functions. Overall, these exclusions primarily focus on platforms enabling social interaction and content distribution.

In contrast to the other states, California employs the term “online service, product, or feature” which features content that interests minors such as “games, cartoons, music, and celebrities” and excludes broadband services, telecommunications services, and the use of physical products—criteria that align with those outlined by KOSA.

Louisiana has the broadest definition of platforms by using terms such as “account,” which encompasses a wide range of services including sharing information, messages, images/videos, gaming, and “interactive computer service.” The latter refers to any provider that enables access to the internet, including educational services. This approach may indicate an intent to encompass various platforms and services enabling interaction and content sharing without explicitly specifying exclusions.

Exempted Applications

Each of the five states also has varied guidance on which apps are subjected to the law.  Some apps like Discord, Slack, Microsoft Teams, GroupMe, Loop, Telegram, and Signal allow text, photo, and video sharing through direct messaging. However, even those primarily used for direct messaging, like Signal, may raise questions due to new features like Stories where a user can narrate or provide short, time-limited responses or provide status updates. Meta’s WhatsApp, as part of a larger social media platform, also may be influenced by ownership and integration—despite it being primarily a messaging app. The curation systems of streaming platforms, like Netflix and Hulu that are without direct social interaction, may fall in or outside the regulatory scope focused on social interaction and content distribution as users expand their platforms.

Table 1 provides a preliminary classification of what online content may or may not be permitted under each state law, in accordance with their definitions of what constitutes an eligible platform.

Source: The authors compiled these results based on an analysis of major social media apps’ main functions in July 2023.

Inconsistencies of age verification Methods

Many of the five states differ in their approaches to age verification, particularly in the areas of platform and content access. In terms of access to platforms’ services, four out of the five states (all except Louisiana) require some form of age verification, but the laws display inconsistency over how that may be done. Arkansas mandates the use of a third-party vendor for age verification, offering three specified approaches considered ‘reasonable age verification.’ In Utah, the process is still undefined. The law specifies a requirement for age verification but does not establish the exact methods. The remaining states do not address in detail exactly how a minor may be identified other than the expectation that they will be. The ambiguities among the states around age-verification, especially as a key component for defining social media use, present both challenges and opportunities. On one hand, it creates uncertainty for social media platforms regarding compliance, while offering some room for practical and effective solutions.

Future efforts to address age verification concerns will require a more holistic strategy toward approving age-assurance methods. Some states have called for the application of existing requirements around submissions of identification that validate one’s age, which includes the requirement of government-issued IDs when minors create accounts or the option to be “verified” through parental account confirmation to protect the privacy of minors. Other ideas include deploying machine learning algorithms that can conduct age estimation by analyzing user behavior and content interaction to infer age.

Among the five states, all have some language on parental/guardian consent to minors accessing social media platforms, aside from determining how to verify that legal relationship. Like age-verification methods, validation and enforcement may prove challenging. The current methods approved by the FTC include, but are not limited to, video conference, credit card validation, government-issued ID such as a driver’s license or Social Security number, or a knowledge-based questionnaire. Recently, some groups have sought to expand parental consent methods to include biometric age estimation, which present a range of other challenges, including direct privacy violations and civil rights concerns. Generally, the process of confirming a parental relationship between the minor and adult can be intrusive, difficult to scale on large social media platforms, or even easily bypassed. Furthermore, even when parental consent is confirmed, it’s important to consider whether the parent or guardian has the child’s best interest at heart or has a good grasp of the minor’s choice and use of applications defined as social media by the respective states.

Concerns around age-verification alone may hint at the potential limitations of state-specific laws to fully address social media use among minors. With the fragmented definitions that carve out which platforms are susceptible to the laws, there are workarounds that could allow some platforms to evade public oversight. For example, with the account holder’s age verified and consent given for platform access (except in Utah), there are no restrictions on the content a minor may access on the platform. Only Arkansas and Louisiana do not require platforms to provide parental control or oversight tools for minor accounts. Consequently, these laws are insufficient and less penetrable because of their emphasis on access restrictions with limited measures for monitoring and managing content accessed by minors.

Other potential drawbacks

How legal changes affect minors themselves is perhaps one of the largest concerns regarding the recent bills. Employing any of the various methods of age-verification requires some level of collection and storage of sensitive information by companies that could potentially infringe upon the user’s privacy and personal security.

While the implementation of more solid safeguards could dissuade more harmful content from being shown and used by minors, the restriction to certain sites could serve to not only overly censor youth, but also create more backdoors to such content. Further, overly stringent and more mainstreamed and homogenous restrictions would inadvertently deny access to some diverse populations where being unsafe online mirrors their experiences offline, including LGBTQ+ youth who would be outed to parents if they were forced to seek consent for supportive services or other identifying online content.

Because social media can serve as a lifeline to information, resources, and communities that may not otherwise be accessible, some of the requirements of the state laws for parental control and greater supervision by age may endanger other vulnerable youth, including those in abusive households. Clearly, in the presence of a patchwork of disparate state laws, a more nuanced and informed approach is necessary in situations where the legislative outcomes may end up with far-reaching consequences.

Definition of harm and the adjacent responsibilities

Here is where the definition of harm in online child safety laws is significant and varies across each of the five states (with some language unclear or even left undefined). States with defined harm focus on different types and scopes of harm. Texas law defines “harmful material” according to Texas’s public indecency law Section 43.24 Penal Code, which defines “harmful material” as content appealing to minors’ prurient interest in sex, nudity, or excretion, offensive content to prevailing adult standards, and content lacking any redeeming social value for minors. HB 18 also outlines other harmful areas, such as suicide and self-harm, substance abuse, harassment, and child sexual exploitation, under criteria that are consistent with major social media companies’ community guidelines, such as Meta’s Community Standards.

Still other states do not specify the meaning of harm as thoroughly as Texas. For example, Utah’s bills (SB 152 and HB 311) do not provide a specific definition of harm but mention it in the context of the presentation of algorithmically suggested content (“content that is preselected by the provider and not user generated”) (SB 152). The ban on targeted content poses a challenge to social media companies relying on curation based on algorithmic suggestions. In the Utah bill, harm is also discussed in terms of features causing addiction to the platform. Utah’s HB 311 defines addiction as a user’s “substantial preoccupation or obsession with” the social media platform, leading to “physical, mental, emotional, developmental, or material harms.” Measures to prevent addiction are also provided with the stipulation of specific hours a minor can access social media platforms (10:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.). In Arkansas and Louisiana, there is also a lack of specific definitions of harm, and more of a focus on restricting minors’ access to the platform. Arkansas’s law similarly suggests that addiction can be mitigated by limiting minors’ platform access hours and prohibits targeted and suggested content, including ads and accounts. Additionally, Arkansas’s law holds social media companies accountable for damages resulting from unauthorized access by minors.

In contrast to the other states, California’s law centers on safeguarding minors’ personal data and considers the infringement of privacy rights as a form of harm, which sets it apart from the other four states.

The patchwork of legislation from states leads minors to have access to certain content in some states, but not others. For example, states outside of Utah do not stipulate restrictions on addictive features, so hooking design patterns such as infinite scrolling remain unregulated. Louisiana does not stipulate any limitation to data processing and retention. None of the state laws provide restrictions on non-textual and non-visual content that comprises most social interactions in extended reality (XR) platforms such as virtual reality (VR) apps. Moreover, the focus on access does not address how already age-restricted content will be made available to minors.

Comparison between state laws and federal bills

As states are enacting their own laws, Congress’s introduction of the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) has different emphases and approaches to the protection of children online. Table 2 reveals the differences between states and proposed federal legislation, starting with the aim of the federal bill to propose a baseline framework in a wide range of areas of interest to states, including establishing age verification, parental consent, limits to advertising, and enforcement authority. However, the state bills provide stricter and more granular protections in certain areas such as age verification (Arkansas, Texas, and Utah) and privacy protections for minors (California) than what is being proposed in KOSA, making it possible that the lack of unified standards across states may cause varying levels of protection when crossing state lines, creating legal gray areas and opportunities for circumvention.

Although the provisions on harm and duty of care outlined in KOSA are also different from the state bills, it is worth noting that KOSA does have provisions on reporting mechanisms and independent research. Further, KOSA mandates that reporting mechanisms be readily accessible for minors, parents, and schools, with specified timelines for platform responses. Such provisions demonstrate how the bill considers harm mitigation efforts, as well as preventive measures like those in the state legislation.

In Section 7, KOSA also defines “eligible researchers” as non-commercial affiliates of higher-education institutions or nonprofit organizations, suggesting that the federal bill may acknowledge the evolving nature of online harm to minors and the importance of providing open data sets and safe harbors for researchers to explore issues such as age verification and processing minor users’ data.  Research and creative experimentation are not mentioned in any of the statewide bills. In Table 2, we share how KOSA compares to each respective state bill on a variety of constant variables.

Sources: Federal: S 1409 – Kids Online Safety Act; Arkansas: SB 396 -  The Social Media Safety Act; California: AB 2273 – The California Age-Appropriate Design Code Act; Louisiana: HB 61 – Provides for consent of a legal representative of a minor who contracts with certain parties; Texas: HB 18 – Securing Children Online through Parental Empowerment (SCOPE) Act; Utah: SB 152 – Social Media Regulation Amendments

Urgency of Action

The recent wave of online child safety legislation at the state and federal levels demonstrates the urgency of concerns around the protection of minors online—many of which are being prompted by rising concerns over youth mental health, digital addiction, and exposure to inappropriate or harmful content. However, as highlighted in this analysis, the varying approaches adopted across different states have resulted in an inconsistent patchwork of regulations, and potentially those that may conflict with the bipartisan proposals of KOSA and COPPA 2.0.

In the end, the legislative fragmentation may create compliance challenges for platforms, and potentially make children and their parents or guardians even more confused when it comes to social media use. State-specific legislation can either strengthen or weaken children’s online safety when they cross state lines or penalize the parents who may be unaware of social media more generally, and how to use it more appropriately. Overall, our analysis revealed several problematic areas worth summarizing, including:

The impact on the law’s legitimacy when there are inconsistent definitions of platforms and services, with states like Arkansas, Texas and Utah using narrower criteria, or when Arkansas excludes most major social media platforms, and Louisiana includes “any information service, system or access software.”

Varying standards for age verification and parental consent requirements will weaken the effectiveness of state (and federal laws) as some states mandate third-party verification, while others leave the methods largely undefined.

Limited provisions to monitor and manage exposure to content among children after the restrictions will further galvanize the need for state laws.

Differing definitions of harm, ranging from privacy infringements (California), addiction (Utah) to various categories of inappropriate content (Texas and Utah) at the state-level will also serve to degrade the efficacy of the law’s intents.

As Congress has departed Washington, D.C. for summer recess, the committee bills are likely to advance to the full Senate with some changes. Overall, efforts to have more comprehensive federal legislation that establishes a duty of care, baseline standards, and safeguards should be welcomed by industry and civil society organizations over a patchwork of state laws. The passage of some type of federal law may also help with constructing consistent and more certain definitions around age and verification methods, parental consent rules, privacy protections through limits on data collection, and enforcement powers across the FTC and state AG offices. From here, states may build from this foundation their own additional protections that are narrowly tailored to local contexts, including California where some harmonization should occur with their privacy law.

But any attempt to unanimously pass highly restrictive children’s online safety laws will come with First Amendment challenges, especially any restrictions on platform and content access that potentially limit minors’ freedom of expression and right to information. To be legally sound, variations or exceptions amongst age groups may have to be made, which would require another round of privacy protections. Moving forward, Congress might consider the convening of a commission of experts and other stakeholders, including technology companies, child advocates, law enforcement, and state, federal, and international regulators, to propose harmonized regulatory standards and nationally accepted definitions.

Additionally, the FTC could be empowered with rulemaking authority over online child safety and establish safe harbors to incentivize industry toward greater self-regulation. These and other activities could end up being complementary to the legislative goals and provide sensible liability protections for companies that proactively engage in more socially responsible conduct.

Keeping children’s rights in mind

Finally, beyond the realm of any policy interventions is the predominant focus and interest of minors, who may consider policymakers’ efforts paternalistic and patronizing. Moreover, actions like what is being undertaken by China and even in states like Texas risk violating children’s digital rights as outlined in UN treaties, including access to information, freedom of expression/association, and privacy. Studies have already warned of the dangers that such measures could impose, such as increased censorship and compounded disadvantages among already marginalized youth.

While regulation and legislation can be well-meaning, parental oversight tools can be equally intrusive and have the potential to promote an authoritarian model at odds with children’s evolving autonomy and media literacy, as full account access enables surveillance. More collaborative governance models that involve minors might be a necessary next step to address such concerns, while respecting children’s participation rights. In June 2023, the Brookings TechTank podcast published an episode with teenage guests who spoke to increased calls for greater surveillance and enforcement over social media use. One teen shared that perhaps teens should be exposed to media literacy, including more appropriate ways to engage social media in the same manner and time allotment that they learn driver’s or reproductive education. Scaling digital literacy programs to enhance minors’ awareness of online risks and safe practices could be highly effective and include strategies for them to identify and mitigate harmful practices and behaviors.

KOSA also mentions the inclusion of youth voices in Section 12 and proposes a Kids Online Safety Council. But the language does not specify how youth will directly recommend best practices. The idea of involving youth in community moderation best practices is forward thinking. A recent study that experimented with community moderation models based on youth-centered norms within the context of Minecraft showed that youth-centered community approaches to content moderation are more effective than deterrence-based moderation. By empowering problem-solving and self-governance, these approaches allowed minors to collectively agree on community rules through dialogue. As a result, younger users were able to internalize positive norms and reflect on their behavior on the platform. In the end, finding ways to involve instead of overly penalizing youth for their technology adoption and use may be another way forward in this current debate.

Beyond social media, the issue of privacy is at the center of how and why social media is best optimized for younger users. The lack of regulation of pervasive data collection practices in schools potentially undermines child privacy. Emerging learning analytics utilizing algorithmic sorting mechanisms have also been cited to have the potential to circumscribe students’ futures based on biased data. Minor-focused laws must encompass such non-consensual practices that affect children’s welfare.

The U.K.’s Age-Appropriate Design Code, based on UNCRC principles, supports a child’s freedom of expression, association, and play—all while ensuring GDPR compliance for processing children’s personal information. The code emphasizes that a child’s best interests should be “a primary consideration” in cases where a conflict between a child’s interests and commercial interests arises. However, it also recognizes that prioritizing a child’s best interests does not necessarily mean it conflicts with commercial interests. This attempt shows how the legal code aims to harmonize the interests of different actors affected by online child safety legislation. Moreover, the U.K.’s code classifies different age ranges according to developmental stages of a minor, allowing for services to develop more granular standards.

Current minor safety regulations embody assumptions about children requiring protection but lack nuance around the spectrum of children’s rights. Moving forward necessitates reconsidering children not just as objects of protection. Instead, minors should be rights-bearing individuals where resolves to online harms require a centering of their voices to champion their digital rights. As these discussions evolve, the goals to support children’s well-being must also respect their personal capacities and the diverse nature of their lived experiences in the digital age.

[mysmorgasbordoffantabulosa]

In his recent live, Jin talks about the delay in their enlistment due to various reasons and thereby the hate comments they have been receiving. The comments online around this are so ridiculous -

1. BTS sacrificed for the Army and endured hate comments - BTS is my favourite band and I love them to bits but nothing they do is purely only for love. Everything, and I repeat, every single thing they do has a commercial angle to it. Nothing was a sacrifice. It was purely an analysis of what will get them through the enlistment period with least financial impact to them and the company. While no one deserves the hate they get, I wish the fandom would stop painting them as saints and treat them as the extremely talented musicians yet human that they are!!

2. BH forced them to delay - As on date BTS is a far bigger brand than BH. Just the word 'hiatus' had wiped out 30 % of their market cap overnight. While BTS has a little skin in the game, BH will be at a much bigger loss, were they to separate from BTS as on date. That is why there has been repeated messaging from everyone about this not being their last concert and they have years to come. BTS certainly has the upper hand in negotiation. Any company across the world would be open to sign them individually or as a group given the cash machines they are!! No way BH can force anything they do not absolutely want to do against their will.

3. Free 'xyz' from BH - Again these guys have no clue how the real world works. BTS are not kids needing protection, they are all well functioning fairly smart adults. They also have access to the best legal and financial advisory money can buy. They can protect themselves much better than any social media warrior can protect them.

As much as I hate Corden I don't think he was wrong when he said most of the fans were teenagers ( at least by the maturity level they seem to be )

The more we start treating them as humans and adults the freer they will be. As of now the critics alternate between trying fight wars that BTS themselves have no interest in fighting or hating them for the smallest deviations from prescribed behaviour.

While this is true for most of K-media it is more so for BTS given they are under microscopic lens.

Sorry about long rant post! Unfortunately went on Quora out of boredom today. This is the result 😌

We all occasionally need to rant it's therapeutic!

Just to add / comment on you some of your thoughts...

Regarding ARMY being teens (or at least mentally so), I think you have to understand most ARMY don't comment negatively, most tend to stay positive and be proactively supportive.

Twitter ARMY is a whole different beast to Mainstream ARMY, they are the ones quick to draw conclusions, will fight with each other over their stan/ship, there are always some who are just constantly negative. I think Twitter hold a lot fo the blame for how the wider K-Pop and likes of Corden perceive ARMY, and because Twitter tends to skew young, it's easy to equate ARMY as being young.

I do agree about how we see them and treat them is gonna have to change, and with military enlistment there is a good possibility that, that could happen. It will weed out the wheat from the chaff in ARMY and hopefu people will become more mature and enough to let them be themselves.

I hope it comes quickly.

#my asks #bts

[kingsbridgelibraryteens]

At our last Teen Advisory Group meeting, we explored several entries in the TeachingBooks Author & Illustrator Pronunciation Guide. Here were a few of our favorites:

Rick Riordan

Karen Cushman

E. Lockhart

Kekauleleana'ole Kawai'aea (!!!!!!!!)

FYE, Here's an earlier post about the pronunciation guide, where I discussed how it's helped me impress our library patrons. :)

#teen programs #Teen Advisory Group #author & illustrator pronunciation guide #TeachingBooks #librarian resources #Kingsbridge Library #NYPL

[the-enby-bird]

The library I go to has this little teen advisory group to learn more about how to draw teens into the library right

And my the aforementioned library tag group has a pronoun pin bin

And they're all out of they/them pins

So I am resorting to he/him and e/ey even though those are like. Not my pronouns

Heehoo stealing the gender from the men

#birdbrain babbles

[blackmoldmp3]

i talked for like 3 hours with my librarian friend from when i was a teen (she was the youth librarian in charge of our teen advisory group thing. where we talked abt how to make the youth section better and also just hang out. and organize coffee houses) and i was like ‘yeah last year i basically just read supernatural fanfiction and did nothing else’ and she was like ‘well this year ive been Going Thru A Time and ive been exclusively reading btvs fanfiction so i get it’ 40 year old small town librarians they’re just like us….

#i’m so glad we talked it was so nice. i looked up to her DO much when i was like 16 #she’s only 10 years older than me lmao. also we needed up talking about how horrible the process of getting ebooks for the library is #she was like yeah buying a physical book is actually cheaper for me to do than the average consumer bc our supplier gives a discount of %30 #but every ebook we get is $100 and we can only lend it on a limited basis. whereas when we buy a hardcover we just Have it #with the ebooks sometimes u can only lend it a certain number of times before u have to pay another $100 #and sometimes u only are able to lend it for one year before u have to pay another $100 😑😑😑

[tallmantall]

[bethestaryouareradio]

Teen Suicide

"When you feel like giving up, just remember the reason why you held on for so long.” -Hayley Williams

 Ruhani hosts a very important hour that focuses on teen suicide and suicide prevention. She interviews Elliot H Kallen, President of A Brighter Day, a 501 c3 that offers resources for teens to stop suicide. Ruhani emphasizes that asking for help is a sign of strength, not weakness.  She also shares poems and warning signs of possible suicide. If you're feeling lonely and experiencing suicidal thoughts, please consider the following steps:

1.    Reach out to someone you trust.

2.   

Seek professional help.

3.   

Contact a helpline such as 741741

4.   

Create a safety plan: 

5.   

Avoid isolation.

6.   

Reach out to online communities.

7.   

Take care of your physical health.

8.   

Remove or secure potential means of self-harm.

Elliot discusses the various free programs that A Brighter Day offers. His 19-year-old son, Jake, took his life when he was depressed. Elliot is devoting his life to creating a brighter day for other teens. He is frank about the necessity to get positive programming to youth to alleviate the stress and depression young people feel today. Social media has caused an injustice for youth. A Brighter Day unites stress and depression resources with teens and their parents with the goal of stopping teen suicide.

Life Can Be Hard as You Transition Into Adulthood.

It’s okay to feel confused and lost.

It’s okay to feel like you don’t have the emotional resources to deal with life’s challenges. 

It’s okay to be less than perfect.

No matter how hard it is, or how hard it gets, you’ll always be able to make it through.

 If you are struggling: 24/7 TEXTLINE 741741 

For resources, visit www.ABrighterDay.info

 BIO: Elliot H. Kallen

Elliot H. Kallen is a leader who brings over 30 years of passion and robust entrepreneurial business ownership experience to his elite Financial Planning & Advising practice.  He has built international organizations, been a CEO of two other companies before forming Prosperity Financial Group, Inc. and is a frequent keynote speaker to charities, podcasts and radio shows on motivation, leadership, charitable work, marketing, and various financial subjects.  

 Elliot is also President of A Brighter Day Charity, the 501c(3) he began following the suicide of his youngest son, Jake, in 2015.  This charity unites stress and depression resources with teens and their parents with the goal of stopping teen suicide.  The resources of A Brighter Day have touched thousands of families and is having a major impact on the lives of our teens and parents. 

 Elliot holds a BA degree in both Accounting and Economics from Rutgers University in New Jersey and has served on various Boards, as an active member and/or President, including The Boys and Girls Clubs of the Diablo Valley, the American Cancer Society of Contra Costa County & Congregation B’nai Shalom, where he has been actively involved in raising millions of dollars for these organizations.  As President of Prosperity Financial Group, a top-tier Financial Advisory Firm, and Partner in Prosperity Wealth Management, he has led his organizations to be actively involved with many charities as this has been a lifelong theme.  

www.abrighterday.info 

https://www.facebook.com/uniteforabrighterday

https://www.instagram.com/abrighterdaycharity/

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 •       Listen at Voice America Network, Empowerment Channel: 

•       https://www.voiceamerica.com/episode/145259/teen-suicide-and-prevention

RECENTLY PUBLISHED BOOK: No Barnyard Bullies. Available at www.CynthiaBrian.com/online-store or www.StarStyleStore.net

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·       

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Be The Star You Are! offers help, hope, and healing to victims of disasters. Read how BTSYA is Making a Difference: https://www.ibpa-online.org/news/460747/IBPA-Member-Spotlight-Cynthia-Brian.htm 

#• Keywords: suicide mentalhealthabirghterdaydepressiondeath teensexpressyourselfstarstylebethestaryouarecynthiabrianvoiceamerica

[studdfeed]

American psychology group publishes recommendations for children's use of social media

One of the largest mental health organizations in the United States has released a set of guidelines designed to protect children from potential harm from social media. The American Psychological Association (APA) released its first-ever health advisory on social media use on Tuesday, responding to growing concerns about how social media designed for adults can negatively impact teens. The report…

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[immigrationpathways]

Why Most Canadians Don’t Need Another COVID-19 Booster — At Least Not Yet

Canadian, international guidance focuses on high-risk individuals. What about everyone else?

Awareness of COVID-19 Test

After several years of public health messaging calling on people to get multiple rounds of COVID-19 vaccines, you'd be forgiven for doing a double-take on some of the latest Canadian and international guidance around booster shots.

In short, it's that while vulnerable adults should get an additional dose this spring, the general population doesn't need to rush out for another round — and might not have to for a while.

The Complexities of COVID-19 Risk Assessment in a Changing Vaccination Landscape

The full picture, of course, is a bit more complicated. Someone's individual risk can shift quickly, such as becoming pregnant or acquiring an immunodeficiency, and even being low-risk for serious health issues from a SARS-CoV-2 infection doesn't mean no risk. This virus also remains somewhat unpredictable, and there's a chance it could still evolve in unexpected ways.

But, for now, this year's guidance marks a major shift in the global vaccination approach, at a time when a majority of the population has either been vaccinated, infected, or both.

"Right now we're at a very different place than we were, say, a year ago, or two years ago, or three years ago … our community immunity is very different," said Alyson Kelvin, a virologist and vaccine researcher with the University of Saskatchewan's Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization.

Advise for COVID-19 Booster Shots

The latest recommendations in Canada, out in early March from the National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI), call for another round of booster shots starting this spring for vulnerable adults, rather than the broader population.

The Canadians who should get another bivalent mRNA vaccine dose includes seniors 65 and older, those living in congregate settings such as long-term care, and any adults with moderately or severely compromised immune systems — at an interval of six months or so after someone's last infection or vaccination.

COVID-19 booster shots recommended for high-risk Canadians starting this spring The World Health Organization later echoed that approach, stressing that high-risk groups should get a booster around six to 12 months after their last vaccine, while healthy kids and teens might not need a shot.

The U.S. is also expected to go the same route by approving another dose for seniors and individuals with weakened immune systems.

Source: CBC NEWS

#Canada #COVID-19 #booster shots #risk assesment #recommendation