My faith teaches me that the only way to gain understanding is to experience life with a heart full of gratitude to God for my own intellect and free will. This is my capacity to learn how to love and be loved fearlessly, as God does. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

We will not allow ourselves to be unlike ourselves. All of us have the potential to be better. However, when you see yourself as only so good, even though you have the potential to be much better, your creative subconscious always brings you back to the level of where you believe yourself to be (remember that’s its job). If you are absolutely certain that something is going to be really difficult, you will make it …

... it is important to consider how humans are capable of making their own “hell” on earth (i.e., feelings of isolation, powerlessness and worthlessness) by believing things that are not true, acting on them (thus disturbing the peace) and focusing on things that don’t really matter. This is the danger as the cyber realm becomes a single point of reference for life. Bullies, pedophiles and sex traffickers are counting on it...

This generation of teens is the incredibly lonely – a great irony considering the ubiquitous role cyber technology plays in the life of modern teens with ongoing conversations in large networks populated by group photos, shared selfies and “likes” 24 hours a day.

Daily offers compelling insight about the neuro development of the reward systems of the adolescent brain, the shame experiences of childhood, and the nature of addiction as an illness that can be successfully treated when we focus on the illness, which he posits is not about the drug. “Addiction is an illness resulting from affect dysregulation,” he said. “It is a pathological relationship to intoxication. So it does not matter which drug is involved.”

While many parents are concerned for the personal security of their children using mobile devices and apps, one of the subtlest concerns that can impact a child’s future college and employment opportunities is their social media presence. Many college admissions departments are integrating the data gathered by the social media profiles of students.

What do tech-savvy teens need from parents? They need parents to provide a safe place where they can talk about the real pressures and insecurities they face.

Do you remember the first time you experienced shame as a child? I do. When I was about seven years old, a neighbor’s child brought out a Polaroid photo of his mother, taken by his father, and showed it to all of the children gathered on the sidewalk. He had found it in her underwear drawer.

The William Glasser Institute offers insights about human nature that has practical application for raising tech-savvy kids. Glasser’s Choice Theory describes how every individual has command and control over thoughts and actions, while feelings and the physiological responses (the senses and emotions) to life’s events and experiences individuals do not control -they just happen. This means that we can easily be deceived by the feelings inspired by experiences on and off line.

In the social network, trust is the currency, and there is always something new to learn about the latest social media apps, changes to the existing most popular social media apps, and the tactics of cyber thieves and criminals to gain our trust and then exploit us. And so it goes with viruses and malware which are scripts and codes and apps designed to exploit individuals by stealing identities from social media accounts and other personal data accounts including banking, and/or to torment through cyber bullying and stalking.