44 LONGISLANDPRESS.COM • JULY 2019
FAMILY & EDUCATION
LI MOM FIGHTS CYBERBULLYING
continued from page 43
“With social media as their main
means of communication, children’s
social and emotional development
is at risk,” she says. “Building strong
self-esteem is nearly impossible when
one compares their life day in and
day out to others because of the transparency
of social media. It creates an
unhealthy attachment to the validation
of their peers.
“In addition, the level of cruelness
tends to be higher due to many factors,
including the lack of empathy
that is caused by the screen itself,” she
continues. “Without body language to
guide our words, our children are less
thoughtful or careful with the words
they put out for all to see.”
Schumacher couldn’t sit by silently
stewing.
“We can’t turn a blind eye to what is
happening to our children growing
up in the world of social media,” she
says. “The statistics are alarming,
with a 200 percent increase in suicide
between the ages of 10 and 14. This is
our generation’s battle.”
Word spread about Schumacher’s
work and she began speaking in other
communities around Long Island.
Over the last few years, she has spoken
to students from elementary schools
to colleges, as well as doing parent
workshops and professional staff development.
She believes the TED Talk
she gave in 2017 at Adelphi University
led to engagements in places such as
New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts,
Maryland, and Texas.
In 2016, she published Don’t Press
Send: A Mindful Approach to Social
Media, An Education in Cyber Civics,
which is available on Amazon. Her
work also expanded to include Project
Feel Good, which teaches students
coping skills including breathing exercises
and meditation as well as the
practice of setting intentions, focusing
on gratitude, and creating a support
team. Journaling is encouraged. Three
years ago, the Don’t Press Send Pledge
was released in app form.
“It is the first thing parents should
download on any new forum,” she
says. “It has been downloaded in 28
countries.”
What does she hope all her efforts will
yield? That students will feel safe on social
media and be mindful that screens
can create an emotional disconnect.
“I tell students at each presentation
that they should ask themselves, ‘How
would this make me feel if I received
it?’” she says. “I then tell them to put
their hand on their stomach and listen
to their gut/intuition that is also
getting weakened by the screen. I tell
them, if it feels wrong, it is wrong.
Your moral compass is telling you
something, listen to it.”
For more information visit dontpresssend.
org, dontpresssendbook.
com, dontpresssendtedtalk.com or
dontpresssendapp.com
“I tell students at each presentation that they
should ask themselves, ‘How would this make me
feel if I received it?’” says Katie Schumacher. Katie Schumacher's Don't Press
Send campaign has spread beyond
Long Island.
/LONGISLANDPRESS.COM
/dontpresssendtedtalk.com
/dontpresssendapp.com
