Talking to Teens About Online Hate Speech: A Guide for Parents and Families
Raising children in a digital age makes it essential for parents to help them process and think critically about the messages they encounter online, and to consider the impact that their own words and actions can have on others.
Hate speech is pervasive on social media. This resource is designed to support parents and other adults in helping children identify, process, and think critically about online hate speech to help minimize its harmful effects. Before engaging in a conversation about online hate speech with your teen, we encourage adults to read our Current Events Strategies for Parents and Teens, which has helpful tips, reflections, and resources to help guide these discussions.
Making Caring Common collaborated with Facing History & Ourselves and The Choose Kindness Project to create this resource.
Recommendations
Reflect on personal experience. Think of a time when someone made a negative assumption about you or stereotyped you. Discuss this example with your teen and ask them to think through the same questions. Has something similar happened to them?
Define online hate speech. Online hate speech refers to any form of harmful, offensive, or threatening language that is directed towards individuals or groups of people on the internet. This can include racist, sexist, homophobic, or religiously intolerant comments, jokes, and memes. Online hate speech can take place on social media, messaging apps, gaming platforms, and other online forums.
Discuss a specific example. Hate speech takes many forms and targets different groups. Ask your teen if there is an example of online hate speech that has affected them or someone they know. If not, try choosing your own example, being sure to confirm the validity of the news source.
Discuss ways to combat online hate. It’s critical for teens both to understand the ways in which they and others can combat online hate, and to feel empowered to act. What actions should social media companies take to combat online hate? What about schools? What actions could you and your teen take?
Establish healthy habits for media consumption. Staying informed about the world is important. But constant media consumption can negatively impact your teen’s mental health, particularly when their own identities are being targeted by online hate. Mitigate headline stress by setting boundaries for news consumption, looking for ways to make a difference on an issue, and keeping an eye out for positive stories.
Download the toolkit for more in-depth pointers for discussing current events issues with teens.
Last updated December 2023.
Overview
For: Parents and Caregivers
Grades: 6 - 12
Resource Type: Toolkit
