News/Research

Conference Grants: Meg Everett at the Society for Research in Child Development

13 Apr, 2023

Conference Grants: Meg Everett at the Society for Research in Child Development

We are pleased to support our students sharing their work at the premiere conferences in their field. Meg Everett was invited to participate as a presenting author in a Flash Talk Symposium examining protective factors that may encourage positive media use for youth in Biennial Meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development | Salt Lake City, Utah. From Everett:

The SRCD Biennial highlights impactful work from research, practitioner/activist, and policy perspectives across disciplines and methods to consider various issues that have been shown to affect the healthy development of children around the world. In particular, I was drawn to sessions concerning children’s use of technology. Two roundtable discussions were especially pertinent to my own research interests, which lay at the intersection of schools and social media. “Designing for Digital Well-being: Frameworks for Optimizing Positive Media Experiences for Children and Families,” and “Developmental Findings and Considerations to Inform Media Literacy Instruction” acknowledged children and adolescents’ increasing media presence, and framed the conversation in consideration of our responsibility as adults, digital media designers, and educators to both reduce harm and reframe the conversation to support young people’s ability to learn, create, connect, play, and ultimately support their digital well-being.

I was invited to participate as a presenting author in a Flash Talk Symposium examining protective factors that may encourage positive media use for youth. I shared the results from my paper, “Oh My God, You’re TikTok Famous!”: Exploring the Impact of Virality on the Relationships between Teachers and Students.” Drawing from in-depth interviews conducted with three viral teachers from different content, geographic, and grade level areas, I detailed the ways in which teachers leveraged their popularity to serve as mentors for youth regarding their online behavior, ultimately suggesting that there is utility in creating spaces for teachers and students to openly dialogue about their online activity. While schools have been slow to adopt these pedagogical approaches, it seems some teachers have stepped in to provide meaningful advice or serve as a sounding-board for students about their online activity while also attempting to navigate their own personal use of the app without much administrative guidance or support.