How Can Social Media Raise Awareness About Teen Dating Abuse?
Youth Voices is working with students from Mountain View High School to explore El Monte/South El Monte and the surrounding communities. The students have formed teams to explore and investigate their communities, map assets, collect and share stories, data and community input for their projects. All the while they are learning and expanding their knowledge of digital media and civic engagement. Follow their work on Instagram and Twitter by using the hashtag: #LoveisRespectEM. For this investigation, students from Arroyo High School are collaboration with students from Mountain View High School.
Team:
Jasfersize
Team Members:
Jasmine A.
Jennifer H.
Twitter: @loveisrespectem
Instagram: @loveisrespectelmonte
Our goal is to inform El Monte High School students about teen dating abuse through social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
Teen dating abuse affects youth in our community and according to expert statistics shared by Break the Cycle, 1 in 3 teen girls experience teen dating abuse -- which means that in a class of 30 students as many as 10 teen girls may be experiencing abuse via their relationship. Teen dating abuse can be emotional, physical, and digital. For example someone could cause physical abuse by hitting their partner, emotional abuse by verbally saying mean comments to their significant other, or digital abuse by tampering with their partner's social media account without their permission.
We are working with the Arroyo High School students who also see this as important issue. We are working together to inform teens and adults about what teen dating abuse is and spreading the word about where to go for help. We are coordinating a Twitter conversation or Twitter party where we invite teens and adults to discuss the topic. Our Twitter Party with Arroyo High School will be on Friday, February 27 from 3:00-4:00 pm. You can join the the Twitter Party by using #LoveisRespectEM. Download the flier here. To prepare for this we attended a teen dating awareness workshop hosted by Break the Cycle and we talked to our school psychologist, Angelica Gallegos. We are also hoping to work with other local organizations to raise awareness about teen dating abuse.
If anything were possible we would want all teens to know everything about teen dating abuse. What it is, what are the signs that abuse is happening, and what resources are available in our schools and community?
One resource many students at MVHS may not know about is our school psychologist, Ms. Gallegos. She is here to listen to any student. We contacted Ms.Gallegos and had an interview with her about teen dating abuse. She explained to us how dating abuse affects teens and informed us of other school resources other than herself. For example, students can go to their school counselor, a teacher, or the school safety officer to seek help. Stay tuned for the interview with Ms. Gallegos.
February is Teen Dating Violence Awareness Month. For more information, resources and to see what other activities are taking place during February click here.
