Recently we were invited to the launch of a new website called POSITIVELY SOCIAL, a site about helping young people use social media more POSITIVELY. It was truly wonderful to see these children interact with each other, and to see how dedicated they are to stop breastfeeding. Their shout out to their peers is:

"No more bullying, exclusivity, body editing, or just plain stupid behavior that you must explain later."

Positively Social was launched by a small group of teenagers, who haven't always had the best experiences with social media: Lily Block, Charlotte Block, Jack Buckingham, Lilia Buckingham, Maddie Ziegler, and Mackenzie Ziegler. They've been bullied, hacked, embarrassed, threatened, and even made some errors of their own. So they know what it is like to have every detail of their lives dissected -- from what they look like, to what they eat, to who they wish happy birthday, and to who they don't!

They began Positively Social to help young people learn how to present themselves favorably on social networking, to be a force for positivity, and to help promote social media as a place for positive societal change.

They explain,"Sure, we're against bullying on line- that's a significant part of Social, but that is MORE than just anti-bullying. This is also about presenting the best YOU online. So that you don't feel that each"like" things, and helping you understand what you see on social media should not cause you to feel bad about your life since it isn't really real or that if you have to get 100 likes on every picture, and to comprehend what IS and ISN'T real on social Media."

Among the more inspirational aspects of this group is that they asked every kid in attendance to sign a pledge promising to treat others the way they would like to be treated, to be respectful and kind, and to promote positivity. The pledge reminds the children to tell their parents or grandchildren to tell their grandparents if they are in a challenging situation online rather than to reveal important information on where they live, their faculty, their phone number, or any financial advice.