Derek E. Baird, M.Ed.

Calm the Vote: New BeMe Studios 2024 Election Streaming Series Aims to Ease Gen Z Election Jitters

I am excited to unveil a project I spearheaded as Chief Youth Officer at BeMe Health: our collaboration with Rock the Vote. By fusing BeMe’s expertise in youth mental health with Rock the Vote’s legacy in youth voter mobilization, we have crafted a unique approach for engaging youth in democracy during the 2024 election.

Our initiative is designed with a threefold goal: to empower first-time Gen Z voters to take action, to promote mental wellbeing during what can be a stressful period, and to boost non-partisan civic engagement.

But our mission extends beyond just motivating young adults to participate in elections; we equip them with the tools they need to navigate the electoral process with confidence and security.

As the project lead on this initiative, I’m excited to announce:

👉🏼 Our new voter engagement platform at BeMe.com/RocktheVote is now live! Starting today, potential voters can easily register to vote, check their registration status, pledge to vote, and request absentee ballots — all in one place powered by the Rock the Vote civic tech.

👉🏼 Our ‘Calm the Vote: A Gen Z Guide to the 2024 Election,’ a new BeMe Original series hosted by Juan Bendaña, aims to demystify the election process and provide mental health support for first-time voters.

Produced by BeMe Studios, this streaming series will roll out across all our social channels and is now available exclusively in the BeMe app.

👉🏼Available exclusively in the BeMe app, our unique Spark Sesh empowers youth to navigate challenging political conversations. This single-session intervention (SSI) equips youth with essential communication skills: engaging in meaningful dialogue, respecting diverse viewpoints, and preserving relationships during intense election periods.

Join us in making democracy less stressful and more accessible for Gen Z. Together, we can ensure that young voices are heard and supported throughout the 2024 election season and beyond.

 

Humanizing User Experience Design Strategies with New Technologies: AR, VR, MR, and AI to Support Student Engagement and Retention in Higher Education

Today, I'm pleased to announce the book chapter I co-authored with Mercedes Fisher, Ph.D. for "International Perspectives on the Role of Technology in Humanizing Higher Education" is now available on both the Emerald Publishing website and Amazon!

Our chapter is focused on using new technologies like AR, VR, Zoom, and AI to support student engagement in higher education.

'The internet is all around us': How children come to understand the Internet

While children are living more of their lives online, little is known about what they understand about the implications of their online participation.

In this report, the Tiana Murray & Rachel Buchanan report on the Best Footprint Forward project conducted at the University of Newcastle (UON), which explored how children come to understand the internet.

Thirty-three children (ranging in age from 10 to 12 years old) from three primary schools in regional Australia participated in focus groups and created a work sample depicting the internet.

Analysis of the focus group transcripts and work samples revealed that while the children’s understanding of the internet was not technical, their knowledge was developed through the social activities that they engaged in online, and influenced by the interactions they have in their ‘real life’ with parents, teachers, and friends.

The children in the study demonstrated ambivalence about the internet; they regularly went online for a variety of purposes but these positive experiences were tempered by concerns and fears. This research presents a nuanced perspective of children’s knowledge of the internet; by rejecting the notion that children are naïve, passive consumers of digital culture, analysis of their understanding reveals it to be balanced and sophisticated.

You can read the full study below. 

Gen Z Culture Report: Mini Keanu, Finsta, Song for a Whale, Gen Z Social Impact [June 2019]

Gen Z Speak: "Finsta" 📷

Teens have always had their own language and Gen Z is no different. Keeping up can be difficult. I'm here to help you out.

A "Finsta" is a second (or third or sixth) "fake" Instagram account used for posting photos you don't want to post on your "real" Instagram or that you want to keep away from your parental units.

 

Meme Culture 🤣

The latest meme to hit the socials? Mini Keanu Reeves. Here's what you need to know.

 

Gen Z Social Impact 💖

At 11 years old Jahkil Jackson is the CEO of Trophies, a streetwear brand that champions positivity and education, and the Executive Director of 'Project IAM,' a philanthropic endeavor that raises awareness and support for the homeless.

Learn more about this amazing young social changemaker. 

 

Teaching Gen Z 🏫

While there’s much hype around the use of VR in education, how are teachers using this emerging technology in the classroom? What do students think? Those are just some of the questions Foundry 10 asked teachers and students in their VR in Education Pilot Program.

 

Gen Z Book Pick 📕

Full of heart and celebrating the things that make us different, ‘Song for a Whale’ by Lynne Kelly shows how, with a little determination, kids can make big waves and change the world.

Gen Z, Privacy & Photos on Social Media

MediaSmarts has been developing digital and media literacy programs and resources for Canadian homes, schools and communities since 1996.

Through their work, Media Smarts supports parents, educators and youth media professionals with information and tools so they can help children and teens develop the critical thinking skills they need for interacting with the media they love.

Building on the privacy findings from their Young Canadians in a Wired World research, this 2017 qualitative study, To Share or Not to Share, of Gen Z youth ages 13 to 16 examines the reasoning that teens apply when deciding to share photos of themselves or other people electronically.

These interviews explore the ways that reputational privacy and social norms impact teens’ decisions to post photos and investigate whether or not they actively consent to the collection and use of their personal information by the platforms they use for sharing photos. The findings of the Media Smarts study also dovetailed with my own research for my book, The Gen Z Frequency.

Key Highlights

• Participants engaged in a number of different strategies to manage their privacy. Though a small number of photos were kept entirely private, most of the participants’ efforts were aimed at controlling who saw particular photos and preventing them from being spread to unintended audiences.
  
  
• A small number of topics were seen as not appropriate to share because they were seen as “private” (as opposed to not being shared out of fear of a negative.
  
  
• Photos containing family members were the most commonly cited as not appropriate to share because they were seen as “private”, though some participants included close friends as well.
  
  
• Snapchat, where photos are temporary by default, creates an expectation of being casual and “fun”, while Instagram’s persistent feed promotes the careful maintenance of a public-facing profile.
  
  
• When participants actively sought consent before posting photos of friends, the question was generally not “Should I share it?” but “Which one should I share?”, with the emphasis on selecting a photo in which everyone looks good according to the standards of the platform.

 

Trend Watch: Kids, Technology and Privacy

Many parents are under the impression that it's just Google or social networking companies that are tracking and collecting data on their kids.

However, it's not just social and gaming apps who are collecting data on your kids.  There are many unseen players in the kids' media ecosystem--ranging from edtech companies to connected toys and digital assistants (hello, Alexa) and educational marketing companies, who are harvesting data on children and teens.

And while the new GDPR-K regulations (and the forthcoming CCPA) are a step in the right direction, in the U.S. it's time for our COPPA laws to be extended to protect the privacy of all minors.   

In recent years we've seen many high-profile data breaches, some involving children’s personal data, resulting from insufficient protections built into the emerging generation of smart devices and toys. 

Dr. Sonia Livingstone, a professor at London School of Economics, has authored a new study, "Children: A Special Case for Privacy" for the International Institute of Communications, that takes a deep dive into kids privacy. 

"Children’s voices are particularly absent, being rarely consulted or included in national or international deliberations. -Dr. Sonia Livingstone"

As this study points out, it's likely that the technology industry will get better at protecting the data of all its users, but their needs to be a conversation about the bigger issue of the "datafication" of our lives---especially when it comes to kids and teens---how or if their personal data should be used for commercial benefit.

 

Instagram Celebrates Gen Z Change Makers at #KindnessProm

In addition to the anti-bullying comment filter announced yesterday, Instagram co-founders Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger announced that they are hosting the first ever #KindnessProm to celebrate young leaders who are inspiring their peers by helping kindness, acceptance and support grow on Instagram and in the world.

The prom is for students and “teen influencers” from around the country. It will be a “totally immersive, Instagrammable experience that focuses on positivity, kindness, giving back and community,” according to the Palm Beach Post.  Instead of choosing a prom king and queen, each guest will get a kindness award. Radio Disney Host and DJ Miss Lela Brown will play the music.

One of the teens invited to attend the Instagram Kindness Prom is Kayla Abramowitz, founder of Kayla Cares 4 Kids, a non-profit which supplies DVDs, video games, books, and craft supplies to children’s hospitals.

The Kindness Prom isn’t the first wellbeing initiative from Instagram to focus on teens, bullying, and social media. Last year Instagram launched the Instagram Together campaign which showcased their continued commitment to developing tools that address bullying, mental health, and other topics impacting tweens, teens and young adults.

 

• Related: Instagram pays it forward by throwing a "Kindness Prom" for teen influencers | ABC NEWS

Blocking Bad: Protecting Teens on Instagram

Yesterday, during the annual Facebook F8 Developer Conference, Instagram announced that they had launched new anti-bullying & comment filtering AI technology that will automatically filter out comments that “harass or upset people in our community.

As the number one social network for Gen Z teens, Instagram has been increasingly proactive in developing both technology and wellbeing programs that improve the lives of the teens. In addition, the new comment filter is focusing on protecting teen celebrities and influencers who are often the recipients of brutal attacks in the comment section on their social feeds.

We first got a sneak peek at this new filtering technology last summer when Instagram co-founder and CEO Kevin Systrom sat down with CBS News to talk about how the social network is betting that limiting hate speech will encourage more expression on the platform.

"Is it free speech just to be mean to someone?" - Kevin Systrom, CEO Instagram

According to Instagram, "This new filter hides comments containing attacks on a person's appearance or character, as well as threats to a person's well-being or health. The bullying filter is on for our global community and can be disabled in the Comment Controls center in the app.”

As teens  increasingly turning to social media platforms, like Instagram, to talk about their mental health and find resources to help them through their personal struggles, it's more important than ever that social media companies realize that they play an increasingly vital role and responsibility in promoting kindness and supporting the mental health of teens in their online communities. 

 

Related: Instagram #KindnessProm

How Does The Time Children Spend on Digital & Social Media Impact Their Well-Being?

Based on an evidence-focused literature review, the first part of this paper examines existing knowledge on how the time children spend using digital technology impacts their well-being across three dimensions; mental/psychological, social and physical. The evidence reviewed here is largely inconclusive with respect to impact on children’s physical activity but indicates that digital technology seems to be beneficial for children’s social relationships.

In terms of impact on children’s mental well-being, the most robust studies suggest that the relationship is U-shaped, where no use and excessive use can have a small negative impact on mental well-being, while moderate use can have a small positive impact.

"Claims that the brain might be hijacked or re-wired by digital technology are not supported by neuroscience evidence and should be treated with skepticism."

In the second part of the paper, the hypothetical idea of addiction to technology is introduced and scrutinized. This is followed by an overview of the hypothetical idea that digital technology might re-wire or hijack children’s brains; an assumption that is challenged by recent neuroscience evidence. In conclusion, considerable methodological limitations exist across the spectrum of research on the impact of digital technology on child well-being, including the majority of the studies on time use reviewed here, and those studies concerned with clinical or brain impacts. This prompts reconsideration of how research in this area is conducted. Finally, recommendations for strengthening research practices are offered.

How does the time children spend using digital technology impact their mental well-being, social relationsh... by Derek E. Baird on Scribd

Infographic: What Parents & Teachers Need to Know About Virtual Reality

Related

• Student Perspectives on Virtual Reality in the Classroom 
• How Irish Students use Oculus Rift
• The Social Life of Virtual Reality Learning Environments
• Oculus VR for Good
• Top Educational VR Google Cardboard Apps

Trend Watch: How Gen Z Use GIFs to Convey Emotion and Celebrate Shared Cultural Moments

In the last few years, there’s been an explosion in the use of GIFS – those little-looped videos that seem to be everywhere. The GIF is often misunderstood as a component of modern communication. 

Gen Z navigates their anxieties by relying on visual-centric social media platforms, like GIFs, emoji, and memes, wherein they can both create and share visual content to express their emotions. 

On social platforms, they embrace memes, visual narratives, GIFs and emoji to create fan art and provide their visual interpretations of shared cultural experiences and project their own emotions into their social media feeds. The visual narrative content posted on these platforms can largely be employed, remixed, and re-appropriated across one another and be reused for multiple purposes across multiple moments in time.

This creates a form of unity in social narratives, situating visual materials as both conversational and archival, across the platforms while also positing disunity and the breakdown of platform exclusive vernaculars.

This episode of the Australian podcast, Future Tense, host Antony Funnell talks to digital researchers and linguists about the ways that people are using GIFs, emoji, selfies and other visual communication tools as narratives to express their ideas, emotions or as visual expressions and celebrations of shared cultural moments.

 

 

Related

Giphy builds transparent GIF library for Instagram Stories

Trend Watch: Facebook Freebooting

Here are all the new Animojis coming to your iPhone X (AAPL)

STUDY: The Role of Social Media and Technology in Peer Bullying

Top 10 best meme generator apps Android 2018

Inc. Magazine Names Immersive Youth A Top Youth Marketing Blog

Our Immersive Youth team got some exciting news! Inc. Magazine has named us one of the Top Youth Marketing Blogs to watch in 2016! Needless to say, we are pretty excited to be in such great company with other digital youth firms like Ypulse and YouthBeat! 

The Inc article cites our Gen Z and Millennial Youthvine platform as a key differentiator from other digital youth agencies:

"What sets the company apart is Youthvine, its proprietary online community. Youthvine is a forum driven by young administrators.

It is coordinated to allow owners to communicate with next ­generation buyers. IYM's agency establishes the relationships, but Youthvine creates a unique experience to engage the new age."

Thanks to Dave Kerpen and Inc for including us on this list! And check out some of our work for a few of our clients, like Walt Disney World, Disney Yellow Shoes Creative Group and Funny or Die! And if you have a Gen Z or Millennial project you need help with, give us a shout out!

#ItsOkayToTalk

The leading cause of death for men under 45 in the UK is suicide. In the US, males take their own lives at nearly four times the rate of females and represent 77.9% of all suicides.

Men who contemplated suicide reported that they felt they couldn't talk about their feelings. Let's show men all across the world that #ITSOKAYTOTALK!

Take a selfie with the 👌🏽 sign, tag 5 friends and let's get the message out that it's okay to talk. Hopefully, working together we can bring these numbers down!

If you're in the U.S. and you need to talk, Crisis Text Line is a free service that is available 24/7 365 days a year. To connect with a crisis counselor at Crisis Text Line: Text START TO 741-741

 

Related Links

• U.S. Suicide Rate Surges
• CDC Suicide Data Sheet (pdf)
• U.S. Suicide Statistics

REPORT: Ads and Media Contribute to Boys' Body Image Pressure

Credos, the advertising industry think tank, surveyed 1,005 boys from primary and secondary schools around the UK to explore their attitudes towards advertising and body image; focus groups with boys aged 8 to 18 and with teachers, youth leaders and parents added to understanding the roots, effects and solutions to boys' body confidence.

This report focuses on the way male models are portrayed in advertising and the media – particularly, whether boys are aware of digitally enhanced imagery and whether this impacts their behavior. 

The subsequent report, Picture of Health?, revealed that 53% of boys felt advertising was a major source of pressure to look good; only social media (57%) and friends (68%) exerted more influence, while celebrities (49%) were slightly less persuasive.

"This new research shows boys are increasingly worried about their appearance," said Karen Fraser, Credos director.

"We have to recognise that advertising and the wider media play some part in shaping how young people feel about themselves – both positively and negatively."

Key Insights

• And while most (80%) were aware of image-manipulation in the media, most appeared to associate this with the female form, as the study reported that they were surprised at the extent to which male images are altered
  
  
• Two thirds (67%) said it was not acceptable for brands to use digital techniques to change the body image of a model in their advertising
  
  
• But some secondary school-age boys (aged 11 to 18) suggested the way media portray men in their images could be healthy (33%) or even aspirational (22%)

• More generally, the study found that boys hold advertising in high regard, with 73% of secondary school boys agreeing that ads are important in letting them know about products

•  69% of 16-18 year olds said they had tried new products after seeing an advertisement

• Around one in four (42%) boys who thought the male images they saw were realistic also believed there is a "perfect body" to strive for, compared with just 16% of those who think male images are unrealistic

Picture of Health: Boys, Advertising and Body Image by Derek E. Baird via Advertising Association

iRights: Digitally Enabling Privacy for Children and Young People

‪iRights‬ is an initiative that seeks to make the digital world a more transparent and empowering place for children.

 

 

iRights Animated Film from Beeban Kidron on Vimeo.

This is a pretty interesting children's privacy initiative outta the UK. Seems like this should be "a thing" in every country, and not just for kids.