{"id":14875,"date":"2025-10-02T17:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-10-02T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/holistic.news\/en\/?p=14875"},"modified":"2025-10-01T12:56:33","modified_gmt":"2025-10-01T10:56:33","slug":"teens-online-what-adults-can-learn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/holistic.news\/en\/teens-online-what-adults-can-learn\/","title":{"rendered":"What Adults Can Learn From Teens Online"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Young people speak for themselves \u2014 busting the myths<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Imagine what you label a \u201crisk\u201d is someone else\u2019s lifeline. That\u2019s how the digital world looks from young people\u2019s perspective. Researchers at Sweden\u2019s Karolinska Institute, working with UNICEF, handed the mic to youth: they ran 71 focus groups with 12\u201319-year-olds across 11 countries and published the results in the <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencedirect.com\/science\/article\/pii\/S1054139X2400154X?dgcid=coauthor\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Journal of Adolescent Health<\/a><\/em>. What did they find?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Far from being mindlessly absorbed by tech, teens show a nuanced grasp of how digital life shapes their mental health<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Teens online<\/strong> \u2014 how they see the web<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Young people were candid about the downsides. <strong>They highlighted constant comparison that breeds insecurity<\/strong>. Social feeds amplify unrealistic beauty ideals and social norms, while like-counts become a proxy for worth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Cyberbullying is another major issue: harassment that starts at school follows targets home<\/strong>. Add compulsive scrolling, and many feel trapped in a digital loop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But smartphones aren\u2019t pure harm.<strong> Teens also described the internet as vital to social life<\/strong>. Real friendships form online, connecting people with shared interests who accept them as they are \u2014 and making it easier to open up about problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Adults are needed more than they think<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>What surprised researchers most: teens feel abandoned by caregivers. They say <strong>adults<\/strong> \u2014 parents, teachers, policymakers \u2014 <strong>don\u2019t engage enough with their digital lives<\/strong> and rarely examine their own habits, making them poor role models.<br><br>\u201c<em>As parents, we should keep an open dialogue and try to be role models,\u201d<\/em> advises Carl Fredrik Sj\u00f6land, a coauthor. <em>\u201cTeachers and policymakers must also engage with young people\u2019s digital lives and include their perspective. Any safer-internet initiative should be co-designed with youth to work.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Read more about<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/holistic.news\/en\/digital-autism-the-first-sign-is-not-looking-you-in-the-eye\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">first sign of digital autism<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Listen first, guide better<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>This isn\u2019t just an alarm bell; it\u2019s a roadmap. Instead of demonizing technology, adults should understand it, talk about it, and learn from young people \u2014 then offer support that actually fits. If we meet teens online where they are, we can help them thrive both on- and offline.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Read this article in Polish:<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/holistic.news\/mlodziez-w-internecie-radzi-sobie-dobrze\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">UNICEF zbada\u0142 cyfrowe \u017cycie m\u0142odych. Raport zawstydza doros\u0142ych<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Teens online aren\u2019t helpless. They show awareness and maturity adults often deny. A new UNICEF study shows why parents and teachers should learn from them now.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":275,"featured_media":14878,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[434],"tags":[649,636,251,1140,798,1871,1050],"class_list":["post-14875","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-humanism","tag-community","tag-education","tag-internet","tag-kids","tag-psychology","tag-teens-online","tag-young-adult"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.4 (Yoast SEO v27.4) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Teens online: UNICEF study flips the script<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Teens online show maturity adults overlook. A UNICEF\u2013Karolinska study explains why parents and teachers should learn from young people\u2019s digital life.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/holistic.news\/en\/teens-online-what-adults-can-learn\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Teens online: UNICEF study flips the script\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Teens online show maturity adults overlook. A UNICEF\u2013Karolinska study explains why parents and teachers should learn from young people\u2019s digital life.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/holistic.news\/en\/teens-online-what-adults-can-learn\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Holistic News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/portalHolisticNews\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-10-02T15:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/holistic.news\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/teens-online.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"675\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Maciej Bartusik\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@news_holistic\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@news_holistic\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Maciej Bartusik\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/holistic.news\\\/en\\\/teens-online-what-adults-can-learn\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/holistic.news\\\/en\\\/teens-online-what-adults-can-learn\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Maciej Bartusik\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/holistic.news\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/0758fb0cf338b71ce51e2da415bc266c\"},\"headline\":\"What Adults Can Learn From Teens Online\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-10-02T15:00:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/holistic.news\\\/en\\\/teens-online-what-adults-can-learn\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":360,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/holistic.news\\\/en\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/holistic.news\\\/en\\\/teens-online-what-adults-can-learn\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/holistic.news\\\/en\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/10\\\/teens-online.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"#community\",\"education\",\"internet\",\"kids\",\"psychology\",\"teens online\",\"young adult\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Humanism\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/holistic.news\\\/en\\\/teens-online-what-adults-can-learn\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/holistic.news\\\/en\\\/teens-online-what-adults-can-learn\\\/\",\"name\":\"Teens online: UNICEF study flips the script\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/holistic.news\\\/en\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/holistic.news\\\/en\\\/teens-online-what-adults-can-learn\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/holistic.news\\\/en\\\/teens-online-what-adults-can-learn\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/holistic.news\\\/en\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/10\\\/teens-online.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-10-02T15:00:00+00:00\",\"description\":\"Teens online show maturity adults overlook. 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