Media Literacy Archives - Kathleen Hassan

Raising Teen Girls in a Social Media World

Social media is everywhere and a huge part of how teens communicate. By the time you finish reading this article, how likely are you to have received a text from your teen? A 2012 Common Sense Media study found that 75 percent of teens have a profile on a social networking site like Facebook; 68 percent text every day and 23 percent use at least two types of social media every day. Those are some pretty significant statistics. But just because it’s common, doesn’t mean it’s good. The same study found that: 57 percent of girls sometimes feel left out after seeing photos of others online 45 percent of girls are concerned about other people posting photos of them 28 percent of girls have edited photos of themselves before posting them Like Dickens’ famous line from A Tale of Two Cities, technology has created both both the best of times [...]

By Kathleen| 2014-05-07T20:11:55-05:00 May 7th, 2014|

Boobs, Jugs, Hooters & Tits: The Quest for the Perfect Breasts

This past weekend, I was in South Beach, Miami attending Mama Gena’s Worldwide Sister Goddess Weekend. I felt like I was magnetically pulled there. I somehow found myself on Mama Gena’s website back in July and saw the blurb about the weekend. I clicked the link and signed up without a moment’s hesitation - not knowing really anything about it nor anyone who would be there. I drove across Florida with butterflies in my stomach, feeling this intense resistance going on inside of me - knowing that I had been divinely called here and feeling so much fear at the exact same time. I have never experienced anything like it before in my life. Hundreds of bold, sexy, adventurous, outrageous women all committed to living a life unleashed and out loud. These chicks - young and old, tall and short, thin and chubby - every one of them totally owned [...]

By Kathleen| 2017-03-07T12:40:59-05:00 November 15th, 2013|

Camera Shy: Don’t Look At Me vs. Selfies: Like Me

Let's face it. We live in a mixed up world of extremes. We want to stand out and fit in. We want to be part of the crowd and yet we isolate and feel all alone. We want to be loved and yet we hate ourselves. We yell, "Don't look at me" and we post selfies all over social media and encourage the world to "like" us, subscribe and share. All of this can reek havoc on self-esteem and can cause all kinds of issues that stem from getting validation externally instead of finding power and worth from within. Self-esteem is basically how we perceive ourselves. It is based on our self-worth, competency or how well we achieve. In part, we get a sense of how successful, talented and proficient we are by comparing ourselves to others. In today’s digital world, the playground on which we make that comparison is [...]

By Kathleen| 2017-03-07T12:45:50-05:00 August 10th, 2013|

The Newtown Tragedy

Certainly by now we have all heard the devastating news of the horrific shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in CT. A 20 year old male, dressed in a bullet-proof vest and armed with assault weapons took the lives of 26 people, 6 adults and 20 children under the age of 8 before killing himself. I first read about the incident on Facebook and like most people, have thought of little else since as we mourn the loss of such young lives cut short in such a senseless act of violence. With literally several hundred girls in my FB newsfeed, I have been observing the fallout and reaction – especially by those teen girls. With the exception of a handful of heartfelt posts by girls who are in touch with their feelings and emotions, the majority of girls’ posts since Friday showed little reaction, with the occasional “like” of a [...]

By Kathleen| 2013-02-15T04:11:41-05:00 February 15th, 2013|

Women In Film

Recently I attended an International Film Festival and I didn’t have to go to Sundance or Cannes! It was held right here in Naples (Florida - not Italy!) The Naples International Film Festival began with a red-carpet opening night extravaganza and continued for four days with parties, receptions and film screenings that included; Narrative Features, Documentary Features and Short Films. Although this was the 4th Annual NIFF, it was my very first time attending and what made it even more exciting was this year’s spotlight on women filmmakers and the opportunity to attend a panel discussion and hear from the most talented and creative women working in film today. The panel was held on Saturday, the 3rd day of the festival and was called Women Calling the Shots. Tickets to attend this discussion were a whopping $1.00. I thought this was a misprint and that surely the decimal point [...]

By Kathleen| 2017-03-07T13:48:01-05:00 February 11th, 2013|

Giving Girls

There are lots of organizations dedicated to Girl Power, but unfortunately many of them seem to focus more on what’s wrong instead of what’s right. Don’t get me wrong, I do believe we need to educate ourselves and be aware of the issues facing young women today and learn how to become media literate and savvy. But if we only focus on the problem, that is exactly what we can expect to get back. This is Universal Law and how the world works. Thoughts become things and our thoughts attract back more of the same. So in this magical season of giving, I thought it would be lovely to focus on the positive and to share the stories of two amazing young women who are generously giving their time and talents to make the world a better place. These two young women represent everything that’s right with girls today and [...]

By Kathleen| 2017-03-07T13:45:52-05:00 February 1st, 2013|