WhatGives!? Do Something Good…

Television shows like “Big Bang Theory” would have you believe that too much time in front of a computer will turn you into a socially inept, slightly, um, well, odd person.  Basically, a geek.  Yet, a growing body of research shows that children spending lots of time on social media sites are the healthiest psychologically.  The Los Angeles Times reports:

In one new study, 13- and 14-year-olds were found to interact on social network sites such as Facebook and MySpace simply in ways that were consistent with their offline relationships and patterns of behavior. And of the 86% of children who used social media sites (a number that reflects the national average), participants who were better adjusted in their early teens were more likely to use social media in their early 20s, regardless of their age, gender, ethnicity or their parents’ income.

So, basically, we all need to take a breath and worry less about how social media is changing our children and take notice of how our children are using social media to change the world.

Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation
Give a thoughtful child a lemonade stand and she might raise some money for a local charity.  Give a thoughtful child a lemonade stand online and she can raise millions of dollars nationwide – even world wide.

Care Bags Foundation
Annie Wignall was only 11 when she recognized that there were kids in her town who needed things like games, toothbrushes, and books.  Now her Care Bags are distributed all across Iowa, other states, and around the world.

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Free the Children
A boy in Canada read about a boy in Pakistan who was murdered for speaking out against child labor in his country – and a movement was born.  Craig Kielburger rounded up his 7^th grade classmates and using the internet to spread the word has created the world’s largest network of children helping children.

Teen Force
In 2002, teenager Brynn MacDonald founded this outreach program whose website offeres one-on-one, teen-to-teen advice as well as online teen programs, teen-written articles, and a safe place to share stories.

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Check out other great projects at Idealist.org, and if you look around your own hometown I’ll bet you’ll find kids who are connecting online to make things a little better for all of us.  Find them.  Help them.

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Tags: Alex's Lemonade Stand, Care Bags, community, Free the Children, social media, Teen Force, teens, volunteer