Newsweek: There Is One Major Element Missing From the Debate on Kids and Social Media | Opinion
By Desmond Upton Patton Brian and Randi Schwartz University Professor at the University of Pennsylvania There’s been a lot of debate recently about how smartphones affect young people’s mental health. But this important conversation rarely mentions how our devices and social media are fueling another epidemic: gun violence. I’ve spent more than a decade studying how […]
WTTW/PBS Chicago: How Teens Are Using Social Media to Try to Change the Cultural Narrative Around Guns
By Joanna Hernandez Nowadays, people can spend hours scrolling through social media. An organization called Project Unloaded is helping teens educate their peers on the risks of owning a gun by empowering youth to become social media influencers for change. Laia McClain, 15, is one of many students who participates in an After School Matters program in […]
WFYI Indianapolis: “We have the power to change this reality.” Youth-led group works to change narrative around gun violence
ABRIANA HERRON As more youth in Central Indiana become victims of gun violence, one group hopes to change the narrative around the issue across the country. WFYIâs Abriana Herron spoke with Paige Carter, an Indiana student and youth council member for Project Unloaded, to learn about the organizationâs goals and its impact in the state. […]
The Guardian/The Trace: Friends Don’t Let Friends Buy Guns
Public health messaging once convinced young people to buckle up and stop smoking. In the TikTok era, a new set of activists is clarifying the dangers posed by firearms. BY KATIE WORTH Once upon a time in America, people rolled their eyes at seatbelts, four out of ten high school students smoked cigarettes, and campers […]
WBEZ: Chicago teens help create a campaign to prevent gun violence
A new campaign from the gun violence prevention group Project Unloaded has a key message for teens: âJust one gun can change the story.” By Max Lubbers âWhile I was out, my little brother snuck into my room and found my ____.â âI knew he was feeling ____. I didnât know he had gotten a ____.â […]
The 19th: Women impacted by gun violence want to make one thing clear: âWe donât have to live like thisâ
By Jennifer Gerson The 19th spoke with three women about how their experiences have impacted the way they have come to understand the gun violence epidemic in America. January 26 marks the close of the sixth annual National Gun Violence Survivors Week. Every day, 120 Americans are shot and killed, and an additional 200 are shot […]
Scripps: Gun use on television was down during the writers’ strike
BY MEGHAN LOPEZ DENVER â From Western movies to true crime series, firearms have been a normal part of American entertainment culture for many decades. However, a group of young people is trying to change that. Theyâre called Project Unloaded and they have spent years looking into the use of guns on television. Watch the piece and […]
Spectrum News: Changing the narrative around gun violence
BY JORDAN KUDISCH CHARLOTTE, N.C. â In 2023, 42,926 people died by gun violence in the U.S. according to gunviolencearchive.org. North Carolina has also seen a fair share of that violence. A report by Everytown For Gun Safety shows our state falls right in the middle with the 24th highest rate of gun deaths in the U.S. As we […]
TheGrio: Teens say guns make neighborhoods less safe, but they still want one, study finds
Many of the teens who took part in the study said they donât feel safe hanging out in their local parks or walking home from school. BY JOSIAH BATES For Black and Latino teenagers who live around constant gun violence, safety is always on their minds, yet that concern sometimes leads them to think they […]
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: A national social media campaign about gun violence has a focus on youth in Milwaukee
BY ELLIOT HUGHES Itâs hard to change any adultâs mind about anything, let alone a subject as heated as guns in the U.S. Thatâs why a national nonprofit’s social media campaign about gun violence is focused on teens, and the Milwaukee area is one of a dozen cities where the campaign is live. âWe all […]