Social Media Wellness: Helping Tweens and Teens Thrive in an Unbalanced Digital World

by Ana Homayoun

Solutions for navigating an ever-changing social media world

Today’s students face a challenging the digital tools they need to complete their work are often the source of their biggest distractions. Students can quickly become overwhelmed trying to manage the daily confluence of online interactions with schoolwork, extracurricular activities, and family life. Written by noted author and educator Ana Homayoun, Social Media Wellness is the first book to successfully decode the new language of social media for parents and educators and provide pragmatic solutions to help With fresh insights and a solutions-oriented perspective, this crucial guide will help parents, educators and students work together to promote healthy socialization, effective self-regulation, and overall safety and wellness.

"Ana Homayoun has written the very book I’ve yearned for, a must-read for teachers and parents. I have been recommending Ana’s work for years, but Social Media Wellness is her best yet; a thorough, well-researched and eloquent resource for parents and teachers seeking guidance about how to help children navigate the treacherous, ever-changing waters of social media and the digital world."
―Jessica Lahey, New York Times Bestselling Author of The Gift of Failure

"This is the book I’ve been waiting for. Ana Homayoun gives concrete strategies for parents to talk with their teens without using judgment and fear as tools. This is a guidebook you can pick up at anytime, and which your teen can read, too. I’ll be recommending it to everyone I know."
―Rachel Simmons, New York Times Bestselling Author of The Curse of the Good Girl

Read About Ana Homayoun in the

Genres: Parenting, Nonfiction, Adult

219 pages, Paperback

Published August 29, 2017

About the author

Ana Homayoun is an academic advisor and early career development expert working at the intersection of executive functioning skills, technology and personal energy management.

Her newest book, ERASING THE FINISH LINE: The New Blueprint for Student Success Beyond Grades and College Admissions, offers a groundbreaking new way of thinking about education, for parents, teachers, administrators and policymakers deeply invested in our children’s emotional development and well-being.

She is the founder of San Francisco Bay Area based Green Ivy Educational Consulting and the author of three previous books: That Crumpled Paper Was Due Last Week, The Myth of the Perfect Girl and Social Media Wellness. She is also the founder and executive director of Luminaria Learning Solutions, a non-profit developing the Life Navigator School Advisory Program to provide students the executive functioning and social emotional skills for long-term success and well-being.

To learn more about her work, visit www.anahomayoun.com.

Reviews

[Laurie Smithwick · Rating 5 out of 5]

None of us needs a book to tell us that our teenagers need more balance between the real world and the world of social media. We know that just from living with them, and most of us struggle ourselves with how to help them find that balance. So I was hopeful when I picked up this book by Ana Homayoun, promising to help teenagers (and tweens) learn how to make choices. The first 3 chapters are a little repetitive so don't get bogged down. But once I got to chapter 4, I found myself underlining and bookmarking constantly. Eventually I got a notebook and started writing down a plan for how to work with my two teenagers using Homayoun's methods, which make more sense to me than just about anything I have ever read on the subject of social media and balance.

If you have a tween or teenager who is on social media, do yourself, and them, a favor and read this book. Your view on how to help them maintain balance will be forever changed for the better.

[Panda Incognito · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the first teens-and-social-media book that I have read since aging out of the demographic that it concerns, and it was interesting to learn more about how shifts in culture and technology that postdate my middle and high school years are affecting Generation Z. This author explains the lingo and culture of teenage social media use without judgment towards adults or youth, and is candid about the dangers of technology without making fear-based arguments for change. Overall, this book is helpful, informative, and well-written, providing an unusually sound perspective on how teens, families, and schools can harness technology's most joyful benefits while limiting exposure to and participation in the dark, antisocial, damaging aspects of a wired life.

Ana Homayoun doesn't see technology as an existential threat, but nor does she view it through rose-colored glasses. Instead, she encourages parents and educators to teach the children under their care to make values-based decisions that reflect their true priorities, instead of making choices based on peer pressure or the threat of danger. Throughout the book, she provides practical advice, ensuring that adults understand current trends, can converse well with the children under their care, and have the resources that they need to set healthy boundaries and guide teens through a fraught part of adolescence that didn't exist during their own teenage years. The further that I got into this book, the more I admired this author's personal expertise and high-quality advice, and I highly recommend this to parents, educators, youth ministers, and even teens themselves.

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the first book I have read doesn't feel like it is fear-mongering in regard to Social Media. Thank you Ana!

[Emma · Rating 4 out of 5]

Social Media Wellness: Helping Tweens and Teens Thrive in an Unbalanced Digital World (2017) by Ana Homayoun is part textbook and part workbook offering background on the ways social media usage has changed and grown in recent years along with strategies for tweens and teens to manage their social media time along with all of their other school and extracurricular responsibilities.

Although this book (Homayoun's third on teens and organization) is targeted at parents/educators it also offers useful information and strategies for teens to implement on their own. As a librarian and social media user myself I learned a lot both for working with kids and teens and for my own practices.

The first three chapters of the book introduce social media as an ever-changing phenomenon and some of the bigger players in social media sites for young people. Homayoun also looks at how social media use affects teens and tweens and offers some compelling statistics and facts on how social media is changing sleep patterns, empathy, and other habits for frequent users. Homayoun also offers a quick rundown of how the instant gratification and constant usage of social media can feed into teen development and promote negative traits and offer a warped sense of what is and is not acceptable.

The second half of the book offers organization strategies and successful anecdotes framed within Homayoun's three-pronged strategy of socialization, self-regulation, and safety designed to help tweens and teens not just use social media and devices less but also to use both more efficiently.

My main takeaway from this book is that choices matter and when it comes to digital use there is always a choice. It's also important to remember that friends are not the same as followers/likes even if you might have some great friends that you only know digitally.

In my own life I was inspired after reading Social Media Wellness to take a hard look at what was and wasn't working for me. I deleted accounts I no longer use, I left sites that brought me no joy (Pinterest), and I made sure I knew all of my accounts and their related information (and if any needed to be made more secure). I also took time to think about privacy settings and what I want to be available to my friends/followers (I will not be keeping an archive of my instagram stories for instance).

Something else that really clicked with me was the idea that social media encourages an "always on" mentality and what that means for anyone using them. It's exhausting! After reading about this repeatedly in Homayoun's book and realizing how much I was plugged in I decided it was time to remove my work email/messaging from my phone. I don't have a job with urgent deadlines and I don't have to take work home. There's no reason for me to be plugged in all the time and replying all the time when it will keep until business hours. While I still start my personal and work days checking sites and emails, I try to avoid ending the day in that way and instead try to unplug and either watch TV with my mom or just read before bed instead.

Homayoun also suggests readers try the Pomodoro Technique for monotasking (because multi-tasking never works, especially when it includes checking texts or likes) which has been incredibly helpful for parceling out my own day-to-day tasks and using apps like Moment to monitor phone usage (I tried this right when my compute died which totally skewed the data and I need to try it again now) and also Forest to encourage less phone use. (I've also been using Forest as my timer for the Pomodoro modules.)

What I really like about Social Media Wellness is that it offers factual information to back up claims along with a variety of strategies which allow readers to take what works for them and leave the rest. A lot of this is common sense--especially for readers who are already "plugged in" when it comes to social media and digital devices--but the calm and measured approach makes even the simplest changes feel empowering and proves that even small changes can make a huge difference. A must-read in this increasingly digital age.

You can find this review and more on my blog Miss Print

[Dan Rheingans · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some really good thoughts about the impact of Social Media on young peoples' lives and the methods that schools, teachers, and parents can use to mitigate the negative repercussions of the "always on" world of today's digital space. Good read.

[Allison Henle · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting read... I appreciated the concrete suggestions for actions/decision

[Gabriela Ayala · Rating 5 out of 5]

I chose this book to improve my perspective on how technology has changed education, pedagogy, or instructional practices. I believe it's essential to keep up, stay enthused, and grow through change. The nuisances of technology make it challenging to keep up and understand but very necessary to help guide students. After reading this book, just like Homayoun I too realized how easily I’d wasted a lot of time on social media. Reading this book helped me grow professionally and the ability to connect to my students. It helped me understand what teens are dealing with on social media. Technology development has in some way improved and facilitated everyone’s lives. Unfortunately, some have become dependent on technology so much that it can be a deterrent for many older generations to exhume their time staying up to date. It’s difficult to understand the confusion that technology has caused in little time. Change is inevitable just like teens using social media is inevitable so it is the responsibility of adults to guide and provide students with the right tools and resources to deal with challenges that accompany social media.

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This started kind of slow and boring for me, but it got better later on. I liked some of her suggestions and her media agreements are a great idea to have your children sign when you give them a phone. I appreciated that she suggests that we, as parents, try every app that our kids want to use and see what it's like, instead of just staying ignorant and not letting them use it without any research. Navigating smart phones and social media is so tricky and draining sometimes.

[Michelle Schlag · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best book I have read yet on electronic balance for teens (and practical for adults as well). The beginning is very similar to other books I have read on the subject but as it moves on the practical tips and ideas had me taking notes and excited for new ideas. This book does not put down social media, which I love, but promotes healthy balance. An absolutely great read for parents!

[Shauna Tharp · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book starts with several chapters providing info and history on the topic before getting to application. I appreciated how it had exercises for adults and teens. It also had tips for school and home.

[Emily Bricker · Rating 5 out of 5]

I highly recommend this book to any and all teachers and parents looking to understand the digital world our youth lives in. This book helps shed some light on the how and why. Read to enlighten and embrace... not to change

[Mel · Rating 5 out of 5]

An insightful and helpful read. The strategies recommended are thoughtful though really only scratch the surface of addiction and what to do about it. I'm glad this book exists though I think there needs to be a lot more awareness in the world. This is a good first step.

[Tiara Bland · Rating 5 out of 5]

I recommend this book to parents of teenagers and educators that work with tweens and teens. Some information was already known about social media, but I enjoyed the resources and exercises provided in this book. Planning on sharing resources with the students that I work with.

[Rakisha · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's a little dry and academic. More likely for educators and professionals than for parents. Very helpful.

[Joette · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent book, well written, from a point of understanding and great suggestions.

[Joanna · Rating 5 out of 5]

An incredibly worthwhile read.

[Stephie · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are some interesting ideas in here for educators and parents on how to help tweens and teens navigate their on and offline lives.

[Patty · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very insightful.

[Katie Richards · Rating 4 out of 5]

Informative though a little repetitive in some sections.

[Pete · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am really glad that I came back to this. It gave me TONS to think about. I highly recommend for parents and educators.

[Misty · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book! Useful and interesting. Thanks.

[Kathryn Dodson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book should be required reading for parents as their kids become aware of and start using social media. Instead of just saying no, Ana Homayoun shows the positives and negatives of social media use by kids. There are great suggestions for both limiting and allowing social media use according to the age and ability of your child. This book also has outstanding recommendations for how to improve productivity in kids (and I'm using some of these tools as well). Great book.

[Ann · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great for teachers/administrators/parents, with exercises and good conversation starters.

[Nancy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book has a lot of history and info but really didn't offer me any help on dealing with my young adult game player. More of a book on how to help your teenager try to balance all aspects of the digital world.