Monkey Business Images // ShutterstockHow social media fuels youth gun violenceAs teenager Oswin Ortiz Jr. lay shot outside his home in 2019, his father approached him and asked who had shot him. Social media’s complex role in the city’s youth gun homicides makes for a daunting obstacle in curbing youth violence. Each of these pieces contributes to a youth violence problem that’s difficult to solve, but not impossible, researchers say. Paul Boxer, a professor of psychology at Rutgers and author of “The Future of Youth Violence Prevention: A Mixtape for Practice, Policy, and Research,” said there are effective strategies to combat youth violence that social media is exacerbating, such as cognitive-behavioral therapy. This article was co-reported by Chalkbeat Indiana and Axios Indianapolis as part of a reporting partnership about youth gun violence in Indianapolis.