Smith Teens

 Review

Common Sense Media says

Site challenges teens to summarize their lives in six words.
greenON: Content is age-appropriate for kids this age.
yellowPAUSE: Know your child; some content
may not be right for some kids.
redOFF: Not age-appropriate for kids this age.
not for kidsNOT FOR KIDS: Not appropriate for kids any age.

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Quality
 
Sometimes media can be age appropriate but a real waste of time. Our star rating assesses the media's overall quality.

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Parents say

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Kids say

What parents need to know

Parents need to know that this creative writing site is the teen version of respected online indie pub Smith Magazine's Six-Word Memoirs project. Kids will find a largely supportive community of similarly creative teens and a fertile environment in which to exercise their short-form writing skills. The uncensored submissions do contain some offensive language but overall the content is funny and inspiring. Entering a memoir automatically gives the writer a chance to be in a future Smith Teens anthology of six-word memoirs. (The first collection, I Can't Keep My Own Secrets: Six-Word Memoirs by Teens Famous & Obscure, is due out September 2009.) 

  • Haiku-style writing fun and creativity are the goals of this storytelling site. 
  • A few submissions are gratuitously violent: "I will f--k you up, bitch."
  • Nothing worse than "making love."
  • Kids write the way they speak. In fact, "f--k" is used so frequently it's included in the word cloud of terms you can search on. Watch out for "asshole," "bitch" and "s--t," too.  
  • Advertising is minimal, consisting of one text link to T shirts with the site logo and a couple of Amazon-linked book jackets for the two memoir collections that Smith Magazine, the owner of Smith Teens, has published so far: Not Quite What I Was Planning: Six-word Memoirs by Writers Famous & Obscure and Six-word Memoirs on Love and Heartbreak by Writers Famous & Obscure.
  • Drinking is mentioned only occasionally. There are probably other references we missed (the site lacks a standard search box), but overall, submissions don't glorify these particular activities. They're more likely to mention cutting or suicidal thoughts.
  • Everything kids submit, including photos of themselves, is out there for the world to see. However, most teens use aliases and the site lets authors edit or delete their own submissions and comments. Parents enjoy some after-the-fact control in being able to contact Smith Teens if they want a child's submission removed.

Is it any good?

 

Anyone who thinks today's teens can't write is in for a pleasant surprise at Smith Teens, a storytelling site that tasks kids with the seemingly impossible: summarize your life in six words. Kids rise to the occasion with gems like "I never take my own advice," one of more than 50,000 entries currently posted. As easy to use as it is addictive, Smith Teens lets kids enter as many "memoirs" as they like along with a profile photo and comment on each other's work. According to creator Larry Smith some members use Smith Teens as a daily journal. We do have a couple of technical beefs: it's hard to find stuff on the site -- the only search tool is a word cloud -- and the pages aren't numbered. The latter means you can't tell how many more entries there are to read before you're done with, say, all the submissions on "love". But these navigation problems are easy to overlook in an otherwise terrific site for aspiring young writers.

Online interaction: Comments left after submissions are the only means of communication teens have on the site. Like the submissions themselves, comments are largely unregulated. However, teens are mostly supportive of each other’s creative efforts, and when kids use submissions to express suicidal or other depressed thoughts their peers try to comfort them.


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What families can talk about

  • Which six words would your teen use to describe his or her life?

  • Discuss what your teen might gain from participating in a writing project like Smith Teens. Families can talk about whether creative  expression is enhanced or harmed by profanity, the challenge of writing to length, and the introspection that a memoir of any length requires. Read our tips on creating with digital media.


This review was written by Carla Thornton
Teen, 18 years old
January 13, 2010
 
Smithteener
Honestly, I think this site is amazing. I have my own user account. I think it should be used for only teens who know the limit on what content to put, like no full names or stuff like that. But it helps me express my feeling and I get other inputs and other teens relate with me. I think its awesome! :)

Flag as inappropriate 
Kid, 13 years old
March 25, 2011
 

Flag as inappropriate 
Parent of 14 year old
July 20, 2009
 
May be good for older teens.. no observed security
We're not sure whether to continue letting our daughter use this site (she will be 13 next month). It is a way for some parents to find out issues in their kid's lives, since they often use it for communicating like a social network. However, I don't find any age limitation for Registration, and I see no way to secure the child's threads so that only friends and family can see and respond to postings. A friend of hers was contacted yesterday by an unknown person, who the friend described as "creepy" and displayed the opportunity for inappropriate communications to exist. Not sure, at this point..............

Flag as inappropriate 
Teen, 15 years old
August 13, 2009
 
teens only
it seems kinda bad with all the cussing but other than that...

Flag as inappropriate 
Teen, 18 years old
April 26, 2010
 
Wonderful for any teen.
I am currently a member of the smithteens community. and I love it. I've developed friends there and I feel true compassion for the other members on there. It may sound easy but try and some up your greatest triumph into six words, and it's quite difficult. I love this sight and i would recomend it to anyone.

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This review was written by Carla Thornton
Genre:Creating

This review was written by Carla Thornton

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About our rating system
ON: Content is age-appropriate for kids this age.
PAUSE: Know your child; some content may not be right for some kids.
OFF: Not age-appropriate for kids this age.
Learning ratings
BEST: Really engaging, great learning approach.
GOOD: Pretty engaging, good learning approach.
FAIR: Somewhat engaging, OK learning approach.
NOT FOR LEARNING: Not recommended for learning.

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