Research recently released by Instagram supports claims that the social media site contributes to poor body image among teenaged girls and boys. The results of the studies, commissioned by and released this week by Instagram itself (well, parent company Facebook) suggest, rather than, as they claim, refute the claims made recently that Instagram leads an appreciable percentage of teen girls (in particular) to feel badly about their bodies and themselves.

A few months ago, Texas teenager Justin Carter, a regular gamer who played the League of Legends game online, and a fellow gaming friend, got into a heated argument with someone on Facebook. During the argument, which took place publicly on their timelines, the person with whom they were having this discussion on Facebook had said something to Carter, regarding his gaming in general, and League of Legends in particular, to the effect of “Oh you’re insane, you’re crazy, you’re messed up in the head.”

Stephen King himself could not have come up with a more twisted, gruesome plot than the reality of the Craigslist killings that took place in Ohio in 2011. Now the exploits of Craigslist murderer Richard Beasley and his teen sidekick Brogan Rafferty, the stories of their victims Timothy Kern, David Pauley, and Ralph Geiger, and lone survivor Scott Davis, are detailed in a new ebook published by the Akron Beacon Journal.

By now everyone has heard about the weekend verdict in the Steubenville Rape case: Two teen Steubenville High Big Red football stars, Trent Mays and Ma’lik Richmond, charged with the rape of the 16-year-old girl known as “Jane Doe”, and the posting of related images on social media, were found guilty of the charges. What many don’t know, however, is that KnightSec, a branch of the hacking group Anonymous, outraged by what they saw as a cover-up, played a role in bringing the online materials to the attention of prosecutors and the court. And that the Ohio Attorney General is calling for a grand jury to force the sixteen other teen witnesses to divulge what they know about who else was involved. (Includes graphic video, images, and texts.)

Like any kid or teen, thirteen-year-old Greg Hoffman begged his parents for a new smart phone, specifically, an iPhone. On Christmas day, he got that coveted iPhone, but not without an 18 point contract from his mom, outlining the rules for having a phone. Not quite what a child or teenager with a new iPhone expects, but Mom made it clear, with a great phone, comes great responsibility.

15-year-old Texas teen Andrea Hernandez has launched a fight against the Northside Independent School District to avoid wearing the electronic tracking RFID chips embedded in her high school ID. Hernandez, from a deeply evangelical religion, believes that the ID is “the mark of the beast,” as talked about in the Book of Revelation. But even without the religious aspect, this is an important issue, and the religious nature of her objection helps to provide a more solid basis over which to object to the microchipped school I.D.

We have often taken flack for saying that children have no business being on Facebook (or the Internet in general), and that parents really don’t understand the dangers of letting your child on the Internet without adequate supervision and precautions. Now a group of police officers is saying the same thing, going so far as to say that you need to have your child’s Facebook password, and monitor their activity on Facebook – even if it means stealing their Facebook password to do it.

A recently released study has discovered that teenagers who do an excessive amount of texting are more likely to also be involved in riskier behaviors, including drinking alcohol, experimenting (or worse) with other drugs, and being active sexually, even to the point of promiscuity. This excessive texting is being dubbed “hypertexting”.

Always remember, and never forget, that the protections of the United States constitution extend only to U.S. citizens, and not to those hoping to visit the US. That is something that British teenager Luke Angel found out the hard way, when an email he sent to U.S. President Barack Obama landed him on the “banned forever from and never allowed entry to the United States” list. No freedom of speech for Luke!

An Arkadelphia, Arkansas teen is suing his mother for accessing his Facebook account, posting what he claims are slanderous comments, and then changing his Facebook password, effectively locking him out of his own account.  In her defense, Denise New claims that as a mother she has the right to monitor what her son is doing.

One would think that after the Megan Meier suicide and the case and cyberbullying law that flowed therefrom, that no right-thinking adult would be horrid – or foolish – fake posts on a public forum targetted at harrassing a teenager. But that’s just what Elizabeth Thrasher did, and to add to the unbelievable nature of her actions, she is from the same area of Missouri as Megan Meier’s tormentor!

A new study has found that a mind-boggling 20% of teens – one in every five – are engaging in ‘sexting’ – the act of sending nude pictures of themselves to others via cell phone.

A new study about teens who talk about teen sex on MySpace, and other risky behaviours in their MySpace profiles and pages, has found that if someone in a position of authority, such as a doctor, who is also on MySpace, contacts them about the risky behaviour being discussed, they may stop talking about it on MySpace. No kidding?

It’s no surprise that today’s teens are more advanced than ever. Not only are today’s teens more advanced on an academic level and a technological level, but they are more advanced on a sexual level as well. Everything from the Internet to cell phones offer teens a perfect outlet to express themselves sexually. Unfortunately, these same outlets allow teens to exploit one another sexually, leading to what amounts to criminal activity without the teen ever realizing he or she has committed a crime.

A teenaged girl is facing felony child pornography charges after sending nude cell phone pix (a practice now known as “sexting”) of herself to classmates. The teen, from (really, we couldn’t make this up) Licking Valley High, was charged with, among other things, illegal use of a minor in nudity-oriented material (the cell phone pics), as well as possession of criminal tools.