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Birthday Blues, Slang Bullies, and Risky Trends: What Educators Need to Know About Today’s Social Media Pressures

The hidden pressure behind the social media birthday post for students

The Gist: Social media is just how students are social, and that includes how they celebrate friends’ birthdays. Students will take to Instagram or Snapchat stories to post fun pictures of their friends to wish them a ‘Happy Birthday’. Often, the birthday student will then repost them to their own account. And many expect the same in return on their birthdays. The number of posts a student reshares on their birthday can open a window into how many friends they have, which can lead to feelings of insecurity and comparison if someone doesn’t get as many shout-outs on their own birthday or none at all.  

What to Know: Kashika, a 19-year-old student and podcaster for This Teenage Life, shared a time when she saw classmates sharing tons of birthday stories. She remembered thinking, “Wow, they’re so popular,” and when no one posted anything for her birthday, she felt “really bad.” 

What started as a fun way to celebrate friends’ birthdays has become a common source of anxiety for students. Teens report feeling “a lot of pressure to post for people’s birthdays” or to post a “certain way.” Additionally, teens worry about having enough people post on their birthdays to show that they have “a lot of people that really care about them” or a “sufficient amount of friends.” For educators, this anecdote highlights how social media can quietly shape students’ self-worth and social dynamics in ways that can be easy to miss in a classroom setting. When students tie their value to online recognition, it can increase feelings of isolation, distract from learning, and harm their well-being. 

TSI’s Take: The birthday post trend is a reminder of how social media can blur the line between genuine connection and performative friendship. While birthday shoutouts can be fun and affirming, they’ve also become a public scoreboard of popularity that can leave teens feeling left out or less-than. Social pressure to post (and be posted about) turns what should be a day of celebration into a source of stress.

Instead of focusing on numbers, it’s important to remember that real friendships aren’t always loud or visible online. Parents, educators, and peers can help by creating spaces where connection is valued over comparison, both online and off. Here are some tips to guide students in handling the pressure of social media: 

• Focus on Meaningful Connections: Remind students that genuine friendships matter more than public posts. A text, call, or in-person moment often means more than a birthday shoutout on a story that disappears in 24 hours.
• Set Healthy Boundaries: Encourage students to take breaks from social media or limit how often they check posts on their birthdays. Protecting their well-being, emotionally and mentally, should come first.
• Celebrate in Your Own Way: There’s no one “right” way to celebrate a birthday. Students can plan something offline that brings them joy, like spending time with close friends, doing a favorite activity, or just taking a day for themselves.

Want to learn more about how to help students handle the pressure? Check out this #WinAtSocial Lesson: Overcoming the fear of missing out on texts, apps, and time with friends

Gen Alpha Slang is Evolving Fast, and A.I. and Adults Are Struggling to Keep Up

The Gist: Student language is rapidly evolving, and sometimes it can be hard to keep up with. When adults in students’ lives don’t understand student lingo (and can’t even turn to A.I. to ask what it means), this can create blind spots in identifying social dynamics and signs of bullying in the classroom. A research paper done by a soon-to-be 9th grader details how 4 top A.I. chatbot models fail to understand Gen Alpha (those born between 2010-2024) slang. 

What to Know: Manisha Mehta, along with 24 of her friends, compiled a data set of 100 slang phrases, including expressions that mean different things depending on the context. The study found that the chatbots struggle to identify “masked harassment,” which refers to bullying behavior hidden behind humor or slang. However, it wasn’t just the A.I. models that performed poorly; parents didn’t do well either. The parent group scored 68% in basic understanding of Gen Alpha slang, nearly identical to the top-performing A.I. chatbot, Claude (68.1%). While the chatbots did slightly better at identifying content and safety risks in the language, only Gen Alpha members themselves scored highly in understanding the slang, its context, and potential risks. 

The study suggests that adults might recognize a student is being bullied in comments only a third of the time, even if they’re closely monitoring their online activity. This also translates to the classroom environment – if students are using slang that educators are unfamiliar with in order to bully classmates, the behavior may go undetected, leaving students hurt and upset.

TSI’s Take: This study reveals a major disconnect between how Gen Alpha communicates online and how both A.I. and adults interpret that communication. If slang is masking harassment and adults can’t recognize it (even when they’re monitoring), it means students are often left to navigate cyberbullying alone. This is where cyberbacking comes in! Students have the power to look out for each other, speak up, and decode these moments of subtle bullying, especially when adults and safety tools might miss them. Here are some tips to guide students: 

• Be a Cyberbacker, Not a Cyberbully: Encourage students to say something if they see something. If they see someone using slang to subtly bully or exclude another, empower students to say something, either to a trusted adult or by checking in with the person being targeted. Their voices can make a difference where others might not notice.
• Know When It’s Not Just a Joke: Just because something gets laughs doesn’t mean it lands well with everyone. Slang and sarcasm can cross the line (especially online, where tone gets lost). Remind students to ask themselves, “Would I be okay if this were said about me, or if an adult saw it?” before you post or make a joke.
• Protect Your Own Language: Be mindful of how you use slang, even if it feels funny or harmless, certain words or phrases can hurt others or be misinterpreted. Help students use their voice to include, not exclude.

Want to learn more about how to help students cyberback instead of cyberbully? Check out this #WinAtSocial Lesson: Considering intent vs. impact when we tell jokes

From Screens to Substances: The Link Between Social Media and Substance Use

The Gist: The USC Keck School of Medicine conducted a study on the relationship between substance use and exposure to substances via social media. According to the surveys, teens who were exposed to social media posts depicting cannabis or e-cigarettes are more likely to use those substances in the future. This study emphasizes the powerful influence social media has on student decision-making and even health behaviors outside the classroom. If educators can understand the culture around substances online, they can better address this challenge. 

What to Know: The study was funded by the National Institute of Health and helps to clarify how certain types of social media posts relate to teen health. Researchers surveyed 7,600 teens from California high schools across two different studies. 

The first survey consisted of 4,232 students, 22.9% of whom reported frequently seeing social media posts containing illicit substances. The researchers followed up with the same group of students one year later: teens who had frequently seen illicit substance posts (but had never tried them) were more likely to have started using them in the past year. 

TSI’s Take: Social media posts have the power to influence students’ lifestyles, from what they buy to how they behave on a day-to-day basis. It’s important that students are empowered to find positive influencers so that they’re less inclined to participate in behaviors that may be harmful to their health and well-being. Here are some tips to share with your students:

• Follow People Who Uplift You: Choose influencers who promote kindness, self-confidence, creativity, or healthy habits, not just trends or appearance.
• Check How Content Makes You Feel: If someone’s posts make you feel anxious, inadequate, or pressured, it might be time to unfollow or mute them.
• Think Before You Imitate: Just because something is popular doesn’t mean it’s safe or right for you. Pause and ask yourself if a trend aligns with your values and well-being.

Want to learn more about how to help students find positive influencers? Check out these #WinAtSocial Lessons: 

1. Discovering positive role models online and off in a world of over 8 billion people
2. Analyzing how companies advertise unhealthy energy drinks and vaping

Helping Students Navigate Digital Pressures, Decode Online Language, and Build Healthy Habits

From birthday shoutouts that may spark insecurity to slang that can conceal subtle bullying, and influencers whose content can shape real-life behavior, students are constantly interpreting – and impacted by – what they see online. These trends remind us that social media isn’t just entertainment; it’s a space where identity, belonging, and well-being are on the line. As educators and adults, we can support students by encouraging digital self-awareness, fostering peer accountability, and guiding them to seek out content and communities that uplift rather than harm them. When we make space for conversation and critical thinking, we help students take back control in a fast-moving world. Stay ahead of the latest trends impacting students by subscribing to The Huddle: Our expert breakdown of social media, tech, and current events shaping students, online and offline.

The Social Institute (TSI) is the leader in equipping students to navigate learning & well-being in a tech-fueled world. Through #WinAtSocial, our interactive, peer-to-peer learning platform, we empower students, educators, and families to make high-character choices online and offline. #WinAtSocial Lessons teach essential skills while capturing student voice and actionable insights for educators. These insights help educators maintain a healthy school culture, foster high-impact teaching, and build meaningful relationships with families. Our unique, student-respected approach empowers and equips students authentically, enabling our solution to increase classroom participation and improve student-teacher relationships. Through our one-of-a-kind lesson development process, we create lessons for a variety of core and elective classes, incorporating timely topics such as social media, A.I., screen time, misinformation, and current events to help schools stay proactive in supporting student health, happiness, and academic success.