The Social Media Workbook for Teens: Skills to Help You Balance Screen Time, Manage Stress, and Take Charge of Your Life

by Goali Saedi Bocci PhD, Gina M. Biegel MA, LMFT (Foreword by)

Overview

Is social media stressing you out? Written by a millennial psychologist and media expert, this workbook offers practical skills to help you reduce anxiety, balance screen time, deal with cyberbullies, and take charge of your life.

Social media has drastically changed how we communicate with one another. In many ways this is a good thing. For example, it’s easier than ever to stay connected to family and friends who live far away. But social media can also become addictive, stressful, and even alienating. If you’re like many teens, you probably check your smartphone several times throughout the day to stay up to date on the news from friends. But what happens when you’re so worried about missing the latest posts on your feed that you end up missing out on real life adventures and connections?

Grounded in evidence-based cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), this unique and relatable workbook will help you manage the stress and anxiety that can result from excessive screen time. You’ll discover how to choose friends over followers, find tips for navigating cyberbullying, and discover new ways to get back in touch with your own life—without your smartphone or other devices.

Social media has an important place in your life—but it shouldn’t rule your life. It’s also important to remember that the “highlight reels” you see of your friends’ lives aren’t necessarily the “real” truth. If you’re ready to reduce social media stress, gain confidence in yourself, and become more engaged in the world around you, this workbook will show you how.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781684031900
Publisher:	New Harbinger Publications
Publication date:	03/01/2019
Series:	Instant Help for Teens Series
Pages:	152
Sales rank:	333,926
Product dimensions:	7.80(w) x 9.80(h) x 0.40(d)
Age Range:	13 - 17 Years

About the Author

Goali Saedi Bocci, PhD, is an award-winning licensed clinical psychologist in private practice, published author, millennial expert, TEDx speaker, and media personality. She earned a PhD in clinical psychology from the University of Notre Dame; and completed her internship at the University of California, Berkeley, where she had the distinction of receiving a national honor when selected for the Outstanding Graduate Student/Intern Award from the American Psychological Association’s Division 17. She completed her postdoctoral fellowship at Stanford University.

Saedi Bocci is a columnist for Psychology Today; her Millennial Media blog has garnered over three million hits worldwide. She is also author of The Millennial Mental Health Toolbox, The Social Media Workbook forTeens, Digital Detox Card Deck, and PhDiva. She is a highly sought-after expert for top media outlets, including The New York Times, Newsweek, TIME, and ABCNews; and has served as a recurring guest on the acclaimed morning television show, AM Northwest, as well as Good Morning San Diego. She currently serves as adjunct professor in Pepperdine University’s graduate school of education and psychology. Her highest strengths are honesty, perspective, perseverance, social intelligence, hope, and zest.


Gina M. Biegel, MA, LMFT, is a California-based psychotherapist, researcher, speaker, and author who specializes in mindfulness-based work with adolescents. She is founder of Stressed Teens, which has been offering mindfulness-based stress reduction for teens (MBSR-T) to adolescents, families, schools, professionals, and the community since 2004. She created MBSR-T to help teens in a large HMO’s outpatient department of child and adolescent psychiatry whose physical and psychological symptoms were not responding satisfactorily to a multitude of other evidence-based practices.

Biegel is an expert and pioneer of bringing mindfulness-based approaches to youth. She is author or coauthor of the The Trauma and Adversity Workbook for Teens, Take in the Good, The Stress Reduction Card Deck for Teens, The Mindfulness Workbook for Teen Self-Harm, Be Mindful and Stress Less, Mindfulness for Student Athletes, The Stress Reduction Workbook for Teens, and Be Mindful. She also has a mindfulness practice audio CD, Mindfulness for Teens, to complement the MBSR-T program. She provides worldwide multiday trainings and intensive ten-week online trainings, and works with teens and families individually and in groups. Her work has been featured on The Today Show, CNN, Psychology Today, Reuters, TheNew York Times, US News & World Report, and Tricycle to name a few. For more information, visit her website at www.stressedteens.com.

Table of Contents

Foreword vii

To the Parents and Professionals Reading This Book ix

To the Teens Reading This Book xi

Section I De-Friending Your Devices

Activity 1 Do I Really Have a Problem with Social Media? 2

Activity 2 Living in the Present or on Your Feed? 6

Activity 3 Social Media Culprits 11

Activity 4 Daily Tracking Log 14

Activity 5 Stages of Change 18

Activity 6 Goal Setting for Change 22

Activity 7 Creating Family Change 26

Activity 8 Tapping Your Tech-Free Tribe 31

Activity 9 Setting Boundaries to Save Your Sanity 36

Activity 10 Pros and Cons 39

Section II Applicable Survival Skills

Activity 11 Social Media Stress Management 42

Activity 12 Dealing with Device Distress 46

Activity 13 When Cyberbullying Strikes 51

Activity 14 Getting Bored on Purpose 55

Activity 15 Distracting Yourself…without Devices 59

Activity 16 Reading Books, Not Screens 64

Activity 17 Sleep and Blue Lights 68

Activity 18 Journaling Instead of Tweeting 72

Activity 19 Exercising without Earbuds 77

Activity 20 Tech Time Management 82

Activity 21 Self-Care for Social Media Overload 85

Activity 22 Nourishing Your Body 90

Activity 23 Nourishing Your Soul 95

Section III Going Tech-Free

Activity 24 Virtual World to Real World 100

Activity 25 Making Time for Friends 103

Activity 26 Self-Harm and Social Media 108

Activity 27 Tech-Free Weekends 114

Activity 28 "Smart" vs, "Dumb" Phones 118

Activity 29 Developing Self-Compassion 122

Activity 30 Looking Ahead 125

Activity 31 Making a Pledge 129

Conclusion 133

References 135

Interviews

Saedi resides in Portland, OR.

Editorial Reviews

A helpful and realistic resource for navigating an increasingly complicated world!”
—Christopher Willard, author of Growing Up Mindful, and faculty member at Harvard Medical School

Christopher Willard

This book is for typical teens (and adults) who frequently experience FOMO, stress, low self-esteem, and sadness when using social media. The book offers simple steps for choosing when and how to use social media. This book will support you in finding more happiness and freedom both online and IRL.”
—Amy Saltzman, MD, author of A Still Quiet Place for Teens

Amy Saltzman

Teens need this book! The Social Media Workbook for Teens is an excellent source that promotes mindful device use and social media participation. The book is user-friendly with deep, guiding questions for teens needing to balance their online presence with off-line recreational activities and face-to-face interactions. The book fills teens’ toolboxes with tips, a process for creating action and backup plans, as well as the encouragement of self-care.”
—Joanne Broder, PhD, former president of the Society for Media Psychology and Technology, device management and intelligence; editor of Psychology of Popular Media Culture; and author of Finish Your Dissertation, Don’t Let it Finish You!

Joanne Broder

Heads up! That’s Saedi Bocci’s shout out to teens and their parents. Look up from your screens and live. And, the simple and sensible strategies in The Social Media Workbook for Teens will help teens and parents do just that. Highly recommended.”
—Michael A. Tompkins, PhD, ABPP, codirector of the San Francisco Bay Area Center for Cognitive Therapy; assistant clinical professor at the University of California, Berkeley; and coauthor of The Relaxation and Stress Reduction Workbook for Teens
 

Michael A. Tompkins

Saedi Bocci provides a thoughtful, detailed, and considerate approach to a timely and challenging topic. She offers a rational and clinically informed approach to behavior change in coping with the ‘downsides’ of social media and its unintended, psychologically invasive consequences. The book provides an overview and detailed self-help manual for young readers (including parents) to learn about the problem, to examine their own behaviors with social media, and to gain a better understanding how it can profoundly influence their lives. More generally, Saedi Bocci supplies a template for future research to evaluate the optimal means of addressing these expanding concerns about the adverse effects of social media upon younger—and probably also older—individuals.”
—Scott M. Monroe, William K. Warren Foundation professor in the department of psychology at the University of Notre Dame

Scott M. Monroe