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Navigating the Digital Seas: Your Guide to Empowering Youth Online

As a parent or educator, you’ve likely felt overwhelmed by the vast and ever-changing digital landscape our youth are exploring. It can feel like watching them set sail into uncharted waters, filled with both wonders and hidden dangers. But what if you had a reliable guide?

Enter the RUMB Model

Your map for navigating the digital world with confidence and purpose.

What matters to you is important to me, and what’s important to you genuinely matters to me.

Children and teens won’t care what you say until they feel that you care.

1

Foster Genuine Connections in the Digital Age

  • Example: Schedule a weekly “tech-free” family game night to create opportunities for face-to-face interaction
relationship worksheet

Unhealthy choices online are always a poor attempt to meet healthy fundamental human needs.

We need to uncover the “why” behind our children’s media habits and empower them to meet these needs beyond screens.

2

Decode the Why Behind Digital Behaviors

  • Example: Use ‘Understanding’ to explore why a teen might be oversharing on social media, rather than simply restricting access

The aim of mentorship is to help teens identify the good and bad values that drive their online choices.

When our values and goals chart the course of our lives, the brain understands tech as a tool for the journey rather than the destination itself.

3

Guide Youth to Align Online Actions with Values.

  • Example: Help your child create a personal “digital mission statement” to guide their online activities
Value-driven screen contract

The best boundaries are those that protect our kids’ YES, because the understand the WHY.

A boundary is more than just a rule; it’s a culmination of our core values and life goals that empower us to make choices that support who we are and where we’re going.

4

Create Empowering Digital Limits

  • Collaborate with your teen to establish a household “digital curfew” for device use

Additional Resources

Safety Checklist

This safety checklist addresses key online risks for children aged 10-16, offering practical tips to protect them from grooming, cyberbullying, and inappropriate content.

The Curriculum

This curriculum empowers middle school students to navigate the digital world safely through eight interactive sessions covering online safety, mental health, values, and digital leadership.

Conversation Starters

  • “What’s your favorite app and why?”
  • “Have you ever seen something online that made you uncomfortable?”
  • “How do you decide what to share on social media?”

Digital Emergency Steps

  1. Document the issue (screenshots, messages)
  2. Report the platform
  3. Inform a trusted adult or authority
  4. Seek professional support if needed

Crisis Resources

Digital Exploitation: You can report online child sexual exploitation to the Cyber Tipline by calling 1-800-843-5678 or visiting report.cybertip.org 
or the FBI.

Recommended Media for the Informed Parent & Advocate

  • The Glass Between Us by Lisa and Jason Frost
  • iGen by Jean M Twenge
  • Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport
  • Glow Kids by Nicolas Kardaras, Ph. D.
  • The End of Sex by Donna Freitas
  • American Girls: Social Media and the Secret Lives of Teenagers by Nancy Jo Sales
  • The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains by Nicholas Carr
  • Hooked by Nir Eyal
  • Irresistible by Adam Alter
  • Fortify: A Step Toward Recovery by Fight the New Drug
  • Your Brain on Porn by Gary Wilson