Turkeesa Lee knows about online dangers.
The mother of two girls — ages 13 and 11 — says she works overtime to "combat the devil known as the internet."
Now, she's hoping to educate others.
Lee is hosting a Teach-A-Rama on "Social Media, Filters, and Music: A Slow Walk to Depression for Our Young Girls."
The talk is sponsored by the National Sorority of Phi Delta Kappa Inc.'s Delta Lambda Chapter. It will be held from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Pleasantville Public Library.
Lee said she will focus on the link between too much screentime and music to depression in young girls.
"Girls are expected to be pretty all the time and be validated by how many followers and 'likes' they can attract online," she said. "Lots of times this is achieved by do things that devalue them and many girls pretend to have a certain lifestyle that frankly they can’t afford."
Lee said girls also tend to measure themselves against the perfectly filtered lives of others they see online.
"This provides a certain level of depression and dissatisfaction with one's self," she said. "The filters, in my opinion, are a way of telling us we are not pretty enough the way we are."
Tuesday's talk is free and open to the public.
Lynda Cohen founded BreakingAC after working as a local newspaper reporter for more than two decades. She is an NJPA award-winner and was a Stories of Atlantic City fellow.
