Most teens use some form of social media and have a profile on a social networking site. Many visit these sites every day.

There are plenty of good things about social media — but also many risks and things kids and teens should avoid. They don't always make good choices when they post something to a site, and this can lead to problems. 

So it's important to talk with young people about how to use social media wisely to communicate. List all the positives and negatives of new forms of online communication.

In a small group divide into two groups and one group list all the benefits of new forms of communication and one group look at negatives. Below is a list, see if you can add anything else also look in the resources section under document, there is guide to provide online resilience toolkit to help parents with supporting their children.

What's Good About New Forms of Communcation:

• stay connected with friends and family
• volunteer or get involved with a campaign, nonprofit, or charity
• enhance their creativity by sharing ideas, music, and art
• meet and interact with others who share similar interests
• communicate with educators and fellow students

What's Bad About New forms of communication

The flipside is that social media can be a hub for things like cyberbullying and questionable activities. Without meaning to, kids can share more online than they should. Most teens:

• post photos of themselves online or use their real names on their profiles
• reveal their birthdates and interests
• post their school name and the town where they live
• This can make them easy targets for online predators and others who might mean them harm.
• Spending too much time on social media can be a downer too. Seeing how many "friends" others have and the pictures of them having fun can make kids feel bad about themselves or like they don't measure up to their peers.