A New Book Has Amplified Fierce Debate Around Teens, Mental Health And Smartphones NBC News, April 3, 2024 “We have overprotected children in the real world and under protected them in the virtual world. “Social psychologist Jonathan Haidt’s “The Anxious Generation,” argues that the smartphone-driven “great rewiring of childhood” is causing an “epidemic of mental […]
What Students Are Saying About the C.D.C. Report on Teen Sadness New York Times, March 2, 2024 Teenagers reported record levels of sadness in the most recent Youth Risk Behavior Survey conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. According to the recently released survey, which was given to 17,000 adolescents at high schools […]
The goal of monitoring kids’ technology use is to both ensure their safety AND build their skills toward self-protection and self-regulation when they are online. To this end, the goal is not to ‘catch’ them doing something wrong. Rather, we want them to learn what poor online behavior is while encouraging and discussing what positive […]
High School Students Walk Out Over Cellphone Ban Newsweek, Feb 9, 2024 Students at a high school in Texas are protesting a new cellphone ban. Hundreds of students gathered outside James Madison High School in South Houston. Some held signs that read “We are high school kids not cellmates!!!” and “You are not here to […]
Meta Adds New Teen Safety Features Following Renewed Criticism CNN, January 7, 2024 Meta recently announced that it is expanding its youth safety efforts by rolling out new settings for teenage Facebook and Instagram users, including content restrictions and hiding search results for terms related to self-harm and suicide. This is in an effort aimed […]
200 groups push Senate to vote on Kids Online Safety Act in 2024 NBC News, December 6, 2023 More than 200 organizations sent a letter urging Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to schedule a vote on the Kids Online Safety Act first thing in January when Congress reconvenes. The bill known as KOSA, which was reintroduced in […]
Teens exploited by fake nudes illustrate threat of unregulated Artificial Intelligence Axios, November 3, 2023 A phone, a few photos, and artificial intelligence have stirred controversy and shattered the privacy of several teens at a New Jersey high school after they learned that nude images of them – created via AI – were circulated in […]
In this Good Morning America article, Liz Repking shares her thoughts on the iPhone’s new ‘Name Drop’ feature. https://www.goodmorningamerica.com/family/story/parents-iphones-namedrop-feature-105179773 By: Yi-Jin Yu, November 28, 2023, 7:16 am In some recent social media posts about a new Apple iOS feature, several police departments have expressed concern about the new “NameDrop” feature potentially putting children at risk if […]
Want to raise happy, successful kids? ‘Wait as long as possible’ to give them a phone, says Yale expert CNBC, October 23, 2023 How old should a child be before getting their first cell phone? It is a question we get asked all the time by parents. According to Yale University psychology professor Laurie Santos there […]
Nigeria hands over two suspects in sextortion case linked to suicide of Michigan high school athlete In a rare move, two Nigerian men were extradited to the U.S. to face charges in a sexual extortion scheme that authorities say prompted the suicide last year of a 17-year-old Michigan high school student. “Here was three Nigerian men […]