The Big Tech Gut Check is a super quick, weekly update on all things Big Tech. Check back every Friday for everything that parents need to know about the platforms our children are spending hours on every day. This week’s Big Tech Gut Check highlights: Meta paying $$Billions$$ in dividends in the wake of child exploitation revealed on their platform. Meta's announcement to add labels to AI-generated content. Troubles in the world of Snapchat, and their last-ditch efforts to be relevant. Research updates on misinformation, misogynistic content (featuring Andrew Tate). Revealing the Top 3 most popular social media platforms for U.S. adults. 

The Big Tech Gut Check is a super quick, weekly update on all things Big Tech.  Check back here every Friday for everything that parents need to know about the platforms our children are spending hours on every day. This week’s Big Tech Gut Check focuses on:  An update on the lawsuit Neville et al vs. Snap, Inc. Highlights from the Big Tech Senate Hearing in DC Big Tech’s latest publicity stunts NYC Major Eric Adams concerning update on social media A new report from Eko revealing harmful content on Instagram and TikTok

In this conversation, family physician Dr. Alison Young (IG: @thesmartphoneeffect) and Nicki Reisberg discuss the impact of screens and social media on mental health. They explore the age at which children are getting smartphones and accessing social media, and the effect that these decisions are having on mental health outcomes, brain development and dopamine levels.  Topics include:  Youth screen time and social media use A breakdown of how dopamine works related to screen time What phone options are available to parents these days The benefits of phone bans in academic settings  The importance of primary prevention around screen activities

This episode is your introduction to dangerous online challenges. Parent survivor Joann Bogard shares the story of her son, Mason. Mason Bogard was an adventurous and outdoorsy 15-year-old.  He loved fishing, hiking, camping and woodworking.  He had great friends, went to a good school. Mason's parents talked to him regularly about online safety and used every parental feature available. They did everything right. And Mason still fell victim to a social media harm. Mason passed away in May 2019 after trying the viral choking challenge he viewed on YouTube. The conversation highlights the lack of regulation and responsibility of social media platforms in preventing harmful content from reaching children. Joann discusses her advocacy efforts, including a lawsuit against YouTube and TikTok, and support of the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA). The conversation includes candid tips for parents regarding phones and social media. You can connect with Joann through: https://www.facebook.com/masonsmessage To learn more about KOSA, click this link. Here's an easy link to contact your state Senators, to ask them to support KOSA.

Dr. Carl D. Marci is a physician, neuroscientist, author and entrepreneur with an incredible book for parents called 'Rewired: Protecting Your Brain in the Digital Age.'  In this interview, Dr. Marci answers pressing questions from parents:  How are screens affecting our childrens' brains?  Should we be giving our children a learning tablet?  When should our children be given a smartphone?  Why are adolescents more depressed than ever before?  The big takeaway from this conversation is how parents can best connect with their children and support their brain development.  Here's a link to Dr. Marci's book 'Rewired: Protecting Your Brain in the Digital Age': https://rewiredthebook.com

This episode is all about social media and our kids. In this conversation, I welcome Imran Ahmed of the Center for Countering Digital Hate, who gets in depth about the risks that social media poses to our children, and gives a roadmap to solve this harmful hamster wheel. We cover a number of topics relevant to parenting in the digital world, including:  Social media's addictive nature Harmful content on social media (and how to minimize it) How to navigate "fake news" The effect of AI on society  Imran and his team have put together a Parent's Guide for social media use, available here. Imran Ahmed leads the Center for Countering Digital Hate in stopping the spread of hate and lies online through research, public campaigns and policy advocacy. Learn more about their work at counterhate.com.If you feel impassioned to write your State Representatives to inform them about your feelings on these issues, click here for a simple form.

Today I welcome Dr. Mark Woodall, a naturopathic doctor practicing in Washington state. In this conversation, we focus on the effects that technology is having on the mental and physical health of today's teenagers.  Dr. Woodall gives parents specific recommendations related to teen mental health, screen time, sleep, physical activity and tech.  ⁠⁠Work with Dr. Woodall in Washington⁠⁠. Here are a few of the resources that Dr. Woodall mentions in this episode: Info on toxic chemicals: https://www.ewg.org Book recommendation:⁠⁠ https://stolenfocusbook.com⁠⁠  Research around social media and links to mental health outcomes:⁠⁠ https://jonathanhaidt.com/social-media/⁠⁠

Amy Neville lost her son Alexander to an overdose after taking one fentanyl-laced oxycodone pill he purchased on Snapchat. She has joined together with over 60 other families who have been harmed in similar ways, and is suing Snap, Inc., alleging the social media platform enables drug dealers in reaching minors and young adults.  In this revealing interview, Amy tells her story and warns parents about the dangers hiding on this concerning platform, tells us what to look for, and provides advice on how to guide our children in an increasingly-digital world. After losing her son, Amy founded the Alexander Neville Foundation, which works to educate youth and communities on teen mental health and the dangers of fentanyl and social media. ⁠https://anfhelp.org⁠  Learn more about Neville et. al. vs. Snap here: ⁠https://socialmediavictims.org/snapchat-lawsuit/fentanyl/⁠

In this interview, I welcome Sarah from Mom Uncharted. This discussion is all about sharing children online; we dissect digital privacy, informed consent, kid influencers and shed light on the sobering realities of child safety in the digital landscape. I was especially shocked to learn about the ability for adults to subscribe to exclusive content from children. Parents everywhere must know about this. More about Sarah:  For two years, Sarah has been exploring the state of sharenting, child exploitation and minor safety on social media. Since then, she’s grown a large and supportive community of like-minded individuals who feel that the way parents are sharing their children online is concerning and that the platforms, governments and brands need to step up to protect a whole generation of children from growing up with a digital footprint that compromised their right to privacy, informed consent and digital safety.  Sarah’s goal has always been to pose questions, offer a different perspective and provide information as it relates to these topics in an attempt to encourage parents to reflect on their own sharing choices, the accounts they are consuming online and better support their children in becoming informed and responsible digital citizens.  Her work has been featured in The Washington Post, Forbes, Bloomberg, CNN and more. Most recently in the French documentary "Enfants sous influence : surexposés au nom du like". 

In what may be a multi-parter, Nicki breaks down the unthinkable responses to a recent video she posted on Instagram about a teen’s suicide.  Thousands of comments from adolescent male gamers don’t lie. In the online gaming communities, there is a blatant lack of empathy and normalization of hate speech, suicide-baiting and oversaturation of cyber-bullying. In this mini-episode, Nicki discusses this viral Instagram video and the responses, in addition to sharing current research about gaming and the effects on our children.