As a parent, you want your child to surround themselves with good influences. That’s true not only for who they spend time with in real life, but also for the people and ideas they’re exposed to on social media.
If you or your child are concerned about the content appearing in their feed, one beneficial step you can take is to help them reset their social media algorithm. Here’s how to reset your child’s algorithm on TikTok, Instagram, and other platforms.
Social media algorithms are the complex computations that operate behind the scenes of every social media platform to determine what each user sees.
Everything on your child’s social media feed is likely the result of something they liked, commented on, or shared. (For a more comprehensive explanation, check out our Parent’s Guide to Social Media Algorithms.)
Social media algorithms have a snowball effect. For example, if your child “likes” a cute dog video, they’ll likely see more of that type of content. However, if they search for topics like violence, adult material, or conspiracy theories, their feed can quickly be overwhelmed with negative content.
Therefore, it’s vital that parents actively examine and reset their child’s algorithm when needed, and also teach them the skills to evaluate it for themselves.
Research clearly demonstrates the potentially negative impacts of social media on tweens and teens. How it affects your child depends a lot on what’s in their feed. And what’s in their feed has everything to do with algorithms.
Helping your child reset their algorithm is a wonderful opportunity to teach them digital literacy. Explain to them why it’s important to think critically about what they see on social media, and what they do on the site influences the content they’re shown.
Here are some steps you can take together to clean up their feed:
Resetting all of your child’s algorithms in one fell swoop can be daunting. Instead, pick the app they use the most and tackle that first.
If your kiddo follows a lot of accounts, you might need to break this step into multiple sessions. Pause on each account they follow and have them consider these questions:
If the answer “yes” to any of these questions, suggest they unfollow the account. If they’re hesitant — for example, if they’re worried unfollowing might cause friend problems — they can instead “hide” or “mute” the account so they don’t see those posts in their feed.
On the flip side, encourage your child to interact with accounts that make them feel good about themselves and portray positive messages. Liking, commenting, and sharing content that lifts them up will have a ripple effect on the rest of their feed.
After you’ve gone through their feed, show your child how to examine their settings. This mostly influences sponsored content, but considering the problematic history of advertisers marketing to children on social media, it’s wise to take a look.
Every social media app has slightly different options for how much control users have over their algorithm. Here’s what you should know about resetting the algorithm on popular apps your child might use.
To get the best buy-in and help your child form positive long-term content consumption habits, it’s best to let them take the lead in deciding what accounts and content they want to see.
At the same time, kids shouldn’t have to navigate the internet on their own. Social platforms can easily suggest content and profiles that your child isn’t ready to see. A social media monitoring app, such as BrightCanary, can alert you if your child encounters something concerning.
Here are a few warning signs you should watch out for as you review your child’s feed:
If you spot any of this content, it’s time for a longer conversation to assess your child’s safety. You may decide it’s appropriate to insist they unfollow a particular account. And if what you see on your child’s feed makes you concerned for their mental health or worried they may harm themselves or others, consider reaching out to a professional.
Algorithms are the force that drives everything your child sees on social media and can quickly cause their feed to be overtaken by negative content. Regularly reviewing your child’s feed with them and teaching them skills to control their algorithm will help keep their feed positive and minimize some of the negative impacts of social media.
Just by existing as a person in 2023, you’ve probably heard of social media algorithms. But what are algorithms? How do social media algorithms work? And why should parents care?
At BrightCanary, we’re all about giving parents the tools and information they need to take a proactive role in their children’s digital life. So, we’ve created this guide to help you understand what social media algorithms are, how they impact your child, and what you can do about it.
Social media algorithms are complex sets of rules and calculations used by platforms to prioritize the content that users see in their feeds. Each social network uses different algorithms. The algorithm on TikTok is different from the one on YouTube.
In short, algorithms dictate what you see when you use social media and in what order.
Back in the Wild Wild West days of social media, you would see all of the posts from everyone you were friends with or followed, presented in chronological order.
But as more users flocked to social media and the amount of content ballooned, platforms started introducing algorithms to filter through the piles of content and deliver relevant and interesting content to keep their users engaged. The goal is to get users hooked and keep them coming back for more.
Algorithms are also hugely beneficial for generating advertising revenue for platforms because they help target sponsored content.
Each platform uses its own mix of factors, but here are some examples of what influences social media algorithms:
Most social media sites heavily prioritize showing users content from people they’re connected with on the platform.
TikTok is unique because it emphasizes showing users new content based on their interests, which means you typically won’t see posts from people you follow on your TikTok feed.
With the exception of TikTok, if you interact frequently with a particular user, you’re more likely to see their content in your feed.
The algorithms on TikTok, Instagram Reels, and Instagram Explore prioritize showing you new content based on the type of posts and videos you engage with. For example, the more cute cat videos you watch, the more cute cat videos you’ll be shown.
YouTube looks at the creators you interact with, your watch history, and the type of content you view to determine suggested videos.
The more likes, shares, and comments a post gets, the more likely it is to be shown to other users. This momentum is the snowball effect that causes posts to go viral.
There are ways social media algorithms can benefit your child, such as creating a personalized experience and helping them discover new things related to their interests. But the drawbacks are also notable — and potentially concerning.
Since social media algorithms show users more of what they seem to like, your child’s feed might quickly become overwhelmed with negative content. Clicking a post out of curiosity or naivety, such as one promoting a conspiracy theory, can inadvertently expose your child to more such content. What may begin as innocent exploration could gradually influence their beliefs.
Experts frequently cite “thinspo” (short for “thinspiration”), a social media topic that aims to promote unhealthy body goals and disordered eating habits, as another algorithmic concern.
Even though most platforms ban content encouraging eating disorders, users often bypass filters using creative hashtags and abbreviations. If your child clicks on a thinspo post, they may continue to be served content that promotes eating disorders.
Although social media algorithms are something to monitor, the good news is that parents can help minimize the negative impacts on their child.
Here are some tips:
It’s a good idea to monitor what the algorithm is showing your child so you can spot any concerning trends. Regularly sit down with them to look at their feed together.
You can also use a parental monitoring service to alert you if your child consumes alarming content. BrightCanary is an app that continuously monitors your child’s social media activity and flags any concerning content, such as photos that promote self-harm or violent videos — so you can step in and talk about it.
Keep up on concerning social media trends, such as popular conspiracy theories and internet challenges, so you can spot warning signs in your child’s feed.
Talk to your child about who they follow and how those accounts make them feel. Encourage them to think critically about the content they consume and to disengage if something makes them feel bad.
Algorithms influence what content your child sees when they use social media. Parents need to be aware of the potentially harmful impacts this can have on their child and take an active role in combating the negative effects.
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Welcome to Parent Pixels, a parenting newsletter filled with practical advice, news, and resources to support you and your kids in the digital age. This week:
What if the next time your child signs up for a social media platform, they’re faced with a health warning — the same kind of label you see on cigarettes?
Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy recently called for a warning label that states social media is associated with significant mental health harms for adolescents. The statement comes after Murthy issued a health advisory in May 2023, warning that social media is contributing to the youth mental health crisis.
What is a warning label? You’ve likely seen these labels on tobacco and alcohol products. A surgeon general’s warning label is a public statement that calls attention to a critical public health issue.
Warning labels can’t be implemented without congressional approval, but Murthy’s statement furthers a growing movement for regulation on social media to help keep kids safe and minimize the dangers of addictive design features. For example, New York recently passed a measure that bans social media platforms from algorithmically recommending content to children.
It’s not over: Murthy acknowledges that a warning label, on its own, wouldn’t make social media safer for young people. He also urges legislators to:
“There is no seatbelt for parents to click, no helmet to snap in place, no assurance that trusted experts have investigated and ensured that these platforms are safe for our kids,” he wrote. “There are just parents and their children, trying to figure it out on their own, pitted against some of the best product engineers and most well-resourced companies in the world.”
Parents can help, too — by creating more phone-free experiences at home and at school, supervising kids’ social media use, and delaying giving kids access to phones until after middle school. Stay involved, ask questions, and understand what your child is doing on their devices.
Parent Pixels is a biweekly newsletter filled with practical advice, news, and resources to support you and your kids in the digital age. Want this newsletter delivered to your inbox a day early? Subscribe here.
For today’s kids, digital literacy comes into play with everything from school projects to social media. When kids are skilled in digital literacy, they’re more capable of identifying reputable information and sources. Here’s how to raise digitally literate kids.
Smishing — phishing’s younger sibling — is an increasingly common form of cyberattack and one parents need to know about so they can help their kids stay safe. But what is smishing? Read on to learn what this scam entails and how to prevent it from happening to your child.
You know you should talk to your child about what they’re doing on their phone, but it can feel awkward and intrusive. Here are some ways to start the conversation:
🎮 Is your child developing an unhealthy relationship with video games? Melanie Hempe of ScreenStrong shares a video game addiction test you can use today.
🔨 Apple recently announced a fix to a problematic Screen Time bug that allowed kids to view explicit content. (If your child is getting around Apple Screen Time, here are some troubleshooting tips.)
🎉 BrightCanary is now free for school teachers, counselors, and mental health professionals! Learn more in this letter from our CEO Karl Stillner.
Today’s kids are more online than any generation before them. The internet is inextricably linked to nearly every part of their lives. That ever presence means it’s more important than ever to teach your child about digital literacy. But what is digital literacy, and why does it matter?
Digital literacy refers to both the technical and cognitive skills needed to navigate our online world. An important part of digital literacy is the ability to find information online and evaluate the reliability of that information. It also involves knowing how to make smart decisions about sharing information online.
For today’s kids, digital literacy comes into play with everything from school projects, to YouTube videos, to social media. When kids are skilled in digital literacy, they’re more capable of identifying reputable information and sources.
How we seek and share information has changed dramatically in recent years. In addition to resources like books, mainstream newspapers, and network news — all of which go through some form of validation or fact-checking process — we now have endless streams of information from anyone with an internet connection.
While many of these new online sources are reliable, plenty of others are from self proclaimed “experts” who don’t know their facts. Intentional disinformation, including deepfakes, is also a growing concern. And the rapid rise of artificial intelligence has further muddied the waters, generating information that sounds credible but oftentimes isn’t.
Here are several ways digital literacy skills help kids navigate this new information landscape:
The ability to find valid information online is not only useful for schoolwork. It’s a skill that will benefit them for the rest of their lives as they seek information about topics like their health, finances, employment, and news.
If a person posts a video where they speak authoritatively on a subject, it’s easy to take it at face value. Digital literacy helps kids evaluate the reliability of the people and information that comes across their feeds. For example, if someone is spouting mental health advice but isn’t actually a trained professional, your child should recognize that their information may not be entirely accurate.
Digital literacy is an important component of behaving responsibly in a digital world. It’s the difference between sharing credible information and misinformation. If your child recognizes that a source may not be trustworthy, they’ll know to tread carefully if friends are sharing conspiracy theories or other faulty information.
Digital literacy is such a broad concept that it can be daunting to know how to talk about it with your kids. Start small and build on their learning as they get older.
Here are some tips to get you started:
Teach your kids to look for sites that are backed by reputable organizations and run by people with expertise. It’s also a good idea to check the date on the article to make sure the information is current. Check out these additional tips on evaluating internet resources from Georgetown University Library.
Fake videos created by artificial intelligence (aka deepfakes) are on the rise. Teach your kids to be on the lookout for things like odd facial movements or pixelation — a few red flags that the video may be artificially generated.
Pausing to consider the validity of a post before sharing it helps prevent the spread of disinformation. If something online seems unbelievable, there’s a good chance it’s not trustworthy.
This also goes for original posts that your child makes. Explain that vague posts and unclear online communication can easily cause confusion and conflict. Learning what’s okay to share online and what’s not is a major part of developing digital literacy.
Help your child recognize why certain things come across their feeds. If they begin engaging with fringe theories and inflammatory content creators, they’ll see more of that content on their social media.
Stay involved in your child’s online life so you can continue to guide them toward greater digital literacy. Regular tech check-ins and using a child safety app like BrightCanary are great ways to stay in the loop about what your child is up to online.
Digital literacy isn’t only about evaluating other’s actions. It’s also about learning to be a responsible member of the online community. Help your children learn to live their values online by being intentional about their behavior.
PBS learning media’s Be MediaWise is a series of digital literacy lessons geared toward kids. The videos are short, fun, and informative. Check them out with your child to continue the conversation on digital literacy.
Like reading and writing, digital literacy is a core skill today’s kids need to succeed in the modern world. Help your child learn to be internet wise by teaching them how to check online sources, protect their privacy, and be a good digital citizen.
Welcome to Parent Pixels, a parenting newsletter filled with practical advice, news, and resources to support you and your kids in the digital age. This week:
Before we talk about child online safety legislation, let’s talk about seat belts.
In the 1980s, states began implementing laws requiring people to wear seat belts in cars. Despite studies from the 1950s demonstrating that seat belts save lives, it wasn’t until these laws were implemented that buckling up became routine. You enter a car, you fasten your seat belt. It’s a simple safety step that’s also mandated by law.
However, between the 1950s and 1980s, there was a time when people knew that seat belts were protective — but they didn’t necessarily use them. Later, laws were passed because safety protections can help save lives.
A similar discussion is happening today with social media. A growing body of research points to social media’s negative effects on kids, ranging from their well-being to their brain development. But there are no national regulations to safeguard children on social media, and those that are passed at the state level face significant legal pushback from major tech companies.
In Congress, several pieces of legislation that impact children online are currently under discussion. Let’s look at a few of them making headway this legislative session:
Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA): Sets new safety standards for social media companies and holds them accountable for protecting minors. Users would also be allowed to opt-out of addictive design features, such as algorithm-based recommendations, infinite scrolling, and notifications. The bill awaits vote in the Senate and has been introduced in the House.
Children and Teens’ Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA 2.0): Updates the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). This measure would make it illegal for websites to collect data on children under the age of 16, outlaw marketing specifically aimed at kids, and allow parents to erase their kids’ information on websites. The bill awaits vote in the Senate.
Sammy’s Law: Would require social media companies to integrate with child safety software, making it easier for parents to supervise their children’s online activities. The bill is currently in the House subcommittee on Innovation, Data, and Commerce.
Platform Accountability and Transparency Act (PATA): Provides protected ways for researchers to study data from big internet companies, focusing on how these platforms impact society. PATA would make it clearer how online platforms manage children’s data and the effects of their algorithms. The bill was read twice in the Senate and referred to committee.
Also worth noting is the American Privacy Rights Act (APRA), a significant bipartisan measure yet to reach committee. It would establish national privacy and security standards, requiring transparent data usage and giving consumers, particularly children, greater control over their personal information.
In the future, we may look back at this period and wonder how we didn’t have stricter measures in place to protect kids online — just like that period when we didn’t wear seat belts. You can talk to lawmakers about the importance of children’s online safety legislation. To find your representative, go to congress.gov/members/find-your-member.
Parent Pixels is a biweekly newsletter filled with practical advice, news, and resources to support you and your kids in the digital age. Want this newsletter delivered to your inbox a day early? Subscribe here.
You know you should monitor your child’s texts, but actually understanding their messages is a whole other story. Like previous generations of kids, Gen Z and Gen Alpha use slang to put their own spin on the way they communicate. We break down what it all means, bruh.
While it’s responsible to monitor your child’s text messages, that doesn’t mean anything goes. Here are some of the top mistakes parents make when monitoring their child’s texts so you can avoid making them yourself.
How will you check in with your child this week? Save these conversation-starters for your next tech check-in.
📵 Following a smartphone ban in Norway schools, middle school kids report feeling mentally healthier and performing better academically. After three years of the policy, girls’ visits to mental health professionals decreased by 60%, and both boys and girls experienced 43–46% less bullying.
🕯️ According to a new survey by Ohio State University, a majority of parents experience isolation, loneliness, and burnout from the demands of parenthood. A whopping 62% feel burned out by their responsibilities as a parent. Parental burnout researcher Kate Gawlik, DNP, stressed the need for self-care and the value of connection, encouraging parents to find local parent groups.
🐤🤖 Did you know? BrightCanary features an AI chatbot called Ask the Canary: an easy way to anonymously get answers to your toughest parenting questions. Find it in the BrightCanary app.
Welcome to Parent Pixels, a parenting newsletter filled with practical advice, news, and resources to support you and your kids in the digital age. This week:
Another week, another round of TikTok drama: last week, the House passed a bill requiring the forced sale or ban of TikTok in the U.S.
The bill, titled the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act (H.R. 7521), requires TikTok’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance, to sell the app’s U.S. operations within nine months (previously six, but the latest version of the bill extended the timeline with the potential to become a full year). Otherwise, much like dancing in Footloose, it would be illegal for TikTok to be available for download in U.S. app stores.
Lawmakers claim that TikTok poses a national security threat because the Chinese government could potentially access the data of U.S. users and use the platform’s algorithm to influence American public opinion. TikTok stated it has never been asked to provide U.S. user data to the Chinese government, wouldn’t do so if asked, and doesn’t tailor content based on political motives.
What happens next? The proposal sailed through a House panel earlier this month, but faced an uncertain future in Congress until it was attached to a foreign aid package that will send funds to Ukraine and Israel, making it more likely to be passed in the Senate. If passed, the bill could land on President Biden’s desk in the next week.
This doesn’t mean TikTok will be banned in time for Mother’s Day. The platform would have nine months to find a buyer, although it’s not clear if TikTok’s algorithm — aka the thing that makes it so compulsively scrollable and knows exactly which ASMR cooking videos to show you — will come with it.
If your child asks about the TikTok ban: Explain the topic in a way that’s appropriate for your child. The platform hasn’t been banned, but lawmakers are asking TikTok to find a new owner because they’re worried about the way they’re treating our personal information. Now’s a great time to explain how social media algorithms work, why it’s important to think critically about the information we consume, and how a bill moves through Congress.
Parent Pixels is a biweekly newsletter filled with practical advice, news, and resources to support you and your kids in the digital age. Want this newsletter delivered to your inbox a day early? Subscribe here.
The American Psychological Association (APA) recently released another report on social media, calling on tech companies to fundamentally redesign social media to correct harmful features that are unsafe for adolescents.
Last year, the APA issued a health advisory on social media use in adolescence, in which the organization recognized the potential social benefits of social media but called out the need to protect kids from harmful content and problematic behaviors. This new report highlights the fact that companies and policymakers “still have made few meaningful changes” (translation: haven’t taken actions that’ll actually help kids).
The report highlights the ways in which common features of social media, such as infinite scroll and notifications, negatively impact kids. It also suggests paths forward for companies and policymakers. Some takeaways:
Apple Screen Time is a great tool to set limits and restrict certain activities. But Apple parental controls aren’t foolproof. We break down common complaints and new ways to keep your kiddo safe online.
Whether your kid is already obsessed with their Switch or wants a console to play with friends, you should know that Nintendo Switch parental controls exist, and you can use them to set time limits, limit certain games, and more.
How will you check in with your child this week? Save these conversation-starters for your next tech check-in.
🤔 What are social media algorithms, and how should you talk to your kids about them? BrightCanary CEO Karl Stillner writes for the Family Online Safety Institute about what parents should know.
🚫 Meta has rolled out new tools to help protect against sextortion and intimate image abuse on Instagram and Facebook.
👀 Do you ever look through your teen’s smartphone? According to Pew Research Center, 50% of parents say they do, and 47% say they set time limits on their teens’ phone use.
📞 The latest Gen Z trend: dumbphones. In other words, flip phones are back (here are our recommendations).
Welcome to Parent Pixels, a parenting newsletter filled with practical advice, news, and resources to support you and your kids in the digital age. This week:
If your teen suddenly has a new lexicon of mental health terms, like “trauma response” and “major depressive disorder,” TikTok may be to blame. A poll by EdWeek found that 55% of students use social media to self-diagnose mental health conditions, and 65% of teachers say they’ve seen the phenomenon in their classrooms.
“Kids are all coming in and I’m asking them, ‘Where did you get this diagnosis?’” said Don Grant, national adviser for healthy device management at Newport Healthcare, in an interview with The Hill. Grant said he would get responses such as “Oh, there’s an [influencer],” “Oh, I took a quiz,” or “Oh, there’s a group on social media that talks about it.”
Social media can help kids understand their feelings and find ways to cope. The EdWeek poll found that 72% of educators believe social media has made it easier for students to be more open about their mental health struggles. And it makes sense that kids would turn to a space they know — social media and online groups — to get information, rather than finding a mental health professional first (or talking to their parents).
However, the topic gets tricky when you consider the fact that social media sites don’t exactly verify that the people sharing medical advice are, in fact, medical experts. While there are plenty of experts sharing legitimate information online, there are also influencers who are paid to talk about products that improved their anxiety and off-label medications that cured their depression.
Big picture: Self-diagnosing on social media is also problematic because algorithms can create a self-fulfilling prophecy. Most algorithms, like TikTok, use a user’s activity to determine what they see next on their feed. If a teen thinks they have depression, they’ll see more content about depression — which may confirm their self-diagnosis, even if they aren’t clinically depressed.
As parents, it’s important to talk to your child about mental health, how to cope with big emotions, and what to do if they need a professional. But it’s also essential to know where they’re getting their mental health information and what they’re seeing on their social media feeds.
Don’t dismiss their feelings outright — be curious. Talk to your child about verifying their sources of information. If they’re getting medical advice from an online creator, are they an actual doctor or therapist? Or are they simply someone who’s popular online?
Parent Pixels is a biweekly newsletter filled with practical advice, news, and resources to support you and your kids in the digital age. Want this newsletter delivered to your inbox a day early? Subscribe here.
Gov. Ron DeSantis recently signed a bill that bans kids under 14 from creating social media accounts and requires parental consent for kids under 16. The bill requires that companies delete accounts belonging to 14- and 15-year-olds and implement age verification measures to ensure that kids aren’t lying about their ages.
Florida’s bill is the most restrictive social media ban in the nation, and that’s after DeSantis vetoed an earlier version of the bill that would have banned all accounts for kids under 16. At the bill-signing ceremony, Republican Speaker Paul Renner said, “A child in their brain development doesn’t have the ability to know that they’re being sucked into these addictive technologies and to see the harm and step away from it, and because of that we have to step in for them.”
Legal upheaval: The bill takes effect Jan. 1, 2025, pending any legal challenges. Tech industry groups have already come out against the bill, including NetChoice, an association that represents major social media platforms and is currently battling with the Supreme Court over a separate social media law.
“This bill goes too far in taking away parents’ rights,” Democratic Rep. Anna Eskamani said in a news release. “Instead of banning social media access, it would be better to ensure improved parental oversight tools, improved access to data to stop bad actors, alongside major investments in Florida’s mental health systems and programs.”
In our last issue, we covered Utah’s decision to repeal and replace its social media law after months of legal challenges that delayed the bill’s implementation. Although DeSantis and Renner have signaled that they’re ready to fight to keep Florida’s social media ban in place, time will tell whether or not Florida’s kids will have to wait until their sweet 16 to get on Snapchat.
How will you check in with your child about online safety this week? Save these conversation-starters for your next check-in.
Sleep can impact everything from brain performance, to mood, to mental and physical health. Our children aren’t getting enough sleep, either, and screens are one of the prime suspects. But how does screen time affect sleep?
Pinterest use is up among teens. Gen Zers are using the website as a canvas for self-expression and exploration. Learn more about how to keep your child safe on the site with Pinterest parental controls.
😮💨 What is the “mental load” of parenting, and how does it affect your emotions, sleep quality, and job performance?
🚩 What are the red flags that you need to worry about your child’s mental health? Save this list from Techno Sapiens.
🤝 Rules and restrictions aren’t the end-all, be-all to parenting in the digital age — you also need a healthy, emotionally rich relationship with your teen. Read more at Psychology Today.
📵 When it comes to protecting kids’ mental health, Florida’s social media ban won’t be that simple, writes David French for the New York Times.
In a surprising resurgence of the platform’s cool factor, Pinterest use is up among teens. Gen Zers are using the website as a canvas for self-expression and exploration. Read on to learn more about how to keep your child safe on the site with Pinterest parental controls.
Pinterest describes itself as “a visual discovery engine for finding ideas.” Users save “Pins” of images or videos to virtual boards. They can record live videos and take photos right in the app, or save images found elsewhere on the internet as Pins.
Many kids come to Pinterest to find inspiration and share ideas around a hobby or interest. Teens are more likely than their adult counterparts to create Pins of things they’ve made and their outfits. Kids also use it to connect with others around common interests, such as books, beauty, or fashion.
Pinterest allows users to interact with each other through comments, direct messages, and shared boards. Although Pinterest may seem relatively tame in comparison to TikTok or Snapchat, parents should take the same precautions as they do with other social media sites.
Here are some ways people might interact with your child on Pinterest:
Just like any social media site, there are risks parents need to be aware of. In 2023, NBC News reported that adult men were using Pinterest to create boards with pictures of young girls and teenagers. The platform responded by rolling out a suite of new Pinterest parental controls, which we’ll discuss below.
Aside from online predators, Pinterest can also expose your child to content that promotes negative body image, negative self-esteem, and even suicidal thoughts. Like other websites, Pinterest uses an algorithm to recommend content based on what your child searches and the pins they click. Research shows that excessive social media use can make kids feel bad about themselves, so it’s important to talk to your child about the content on their feed and limit the time they spend on social media — including Pinterest.
Exposure to inappropriate content is also a risk on Pinterest. Pins can lead kids to websites with explicit content, misinformation, and just plain spam, solely because they clicked a pin that caught their attention.
There are also plenty of positive reasons to let your child use Pinterest, with guardrails.
For example, Pinterest can be a great source of inspiration, creative expression, and connection because users have the ability to dive deeper into their interests. Plus, Pinterest is full of tutorials that can help kids learn new skills, like cooking and coding.
Pinterest can even foster a boost of positivity. Recent research from Pinterest and University of California, Berkeley, found that daily interaction with inspiring content on Pinterest helped buffer students against things like burnout and stress.
The good news is that Pinterest parental controls are fairly robust. The company recently took steps to protect minors on their site, including age verification, automatically setting accounts to private for users under 16, and additional reporting options. The minimum age for Pinterest users is 13.
There are also extra steps you can take to keep your child safe on Pinterest:
While Pinterest can be a positive creative outlet for kids, it’s not without risk. Parents should educate themselves about the potential dangers and take steps to keep their child safe on the site.
Welcome to Parent Pixels, a parenting newsletter filled with practical advice, news, and resources to support you and your kids in the digital age. This week:
Today, the House overwhelmingly voted to pass a bill that would effectively ban TikTok in the United States. The bill now heads to the Senate, where its future is less certain. The measure, H.R. 7521, would ban applications controlled by foreign adversaries of the United States that pose a clear national security risk.
For years, US officials have dubbed TikTok a national security threat. China’s intelligence laws could enable Beijing to snoop on the user information TikTok collects. Although the US government has not publicly presented evidence that the Chinese government has accessed TikTok user data, the House vote was preceded by a classified briefing on national security concerns about TikTok’s Chinese ownership.
If H.R. 7521 is passed, ByteDance will have 165 days to sell TikTok. Failure to do so would make it illegal for TikTok to be available for download in U.S. app stores. On the day of the vote, TikTok responded with a full-screen pop-up that prompted users to dial their members of Congress and express their opposition to the bill. In a post on X, TikTok shared: “This will damage millions of businesses, deny artists an audience, and destroy the livelihoods of countless creators across the country.”
“It is not a ban,” said Representative Mike Gallagher, the Republican chairman of the House select China committee. “Think of this as a surgery designed to remove the tumor and thereby save the patient in the process.”
The bottom line: The bill passed the House Energy and Commerce Committee unanimously, which means legislators from both parties supported the bill. Reuters calls this the “most significant momentum for a U.S. crackdown on TikTok … since then President Donald Trump unsuccessfully tried to ban the app in 2020.” The TikTok legislation’s fate is less certain in the Senate. If the bill clears Congress, though, President Biden has already indicated that he would sign it.
If your child uses TikTok, it’s natural that they may have questions about the ban (especially if they dream of becoming a TikTok influencer). Nothing is set in stone, and it’s entirely possible that TikTok would simply change ownership. However, this is a good opportunity to chat with your kids about the following talking points:
Set your child’s account to private, limit who can message them, and limit reposts and mentions. With a few simple steps, you can make Instagram a safer place for your kid. Here’s how to get it done.
Yikes — you found out that your child has been sending concerning videos, images, or messages to someone else. We break down some of the reasons kids send inappropriate messages and how to approach them.
🏛️ An update on Florida’s social media ban: as expected, Governor Ron DeSantis vetoed a bill that would have banned minors from using social media, but signaled that he would sign a different version anticipated from the Florida legislature.
📵 Nearly three-quarters (72%) of U.S. teens say they feel happy or peaceful when they don’t have their smartphones — but 44% say they feel anxious without them, according to Pew Research Center.
📖 Do digital books count as screen time? The benefits of reading outweigh screen time exposure, according to experts.
🗺️ How can parents navigate the challenges of technology and social media? Set limits, help your child realize how much time they spend on tech, and model self-restraint. Check out these tips and more via Psychology Today.
Parent Pixels is a biweekly newsletter filled with practical advice, news, and resources to support you and your kids in the digital age. Want this newsletter delivered to your inbox a day early? Subscribe here.
Welcome to Parent Pixels, a parenting newsletter filled with practical advice, news, and resources to support you and your kids in the digital age. This week:
A Florida bill that bans minors from using social media recently passed the House and Senate. The bill, HB1, is now on Governor Ron DeSantis’ desk. He’ll have until March 1 to veto the legislation or sign it into law.
DeSantis has previously said that he didn’t support the bill in its current form, which bars anyone younger than 16 years old from creating new social media accounts — and closes existing accounts for kids 16 and younger. (DeSantis has called social media a “net negative” for young people, but said that, with parental supervision, it could have beneficial effects.) Unlike online safety bills passed in other states, HB1 doesn’t allow minors to use social media with parental permission: if you’re a minor, you can’t have an Instagram.
Even if DeSantis vetoes the bill, the fact that such an aggressive bill passed both the House and Senate with bipartisan support signals that the conversation about online safety legislation is reaching a tipping point.
The Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA), which implements social media regulations at the federal level, also recently reached a major milestone: an amended version gained enough supporters to pass the Senate. If it moves to a vote, it would be the first child safety bill to get this far in 25 years, since the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act passed in 1998.
If passed, KOSA would make tech platforms responsible (aka have a “duty of care”) for preventing and mitigating harm to minors on topics ranging from mental health disorders and online bullying to eating disorders and sexual exploitation. Users would also be allowed to opt-out of addictive design features, such as algorithm-based recommendations, infinite scrolling, and notifications.
In a previous iteration of KOSA, state attorneys general were able to enforce the duty of care. However, some LGBTQ+ groups were concerned that Republican AGs would use the law to take action against resources for LGBTQ+ youth. The amended version leaves enforcement to the Federal Trade Commission — a move that led a number of advocacy groups, including GLAAD, Human Rights campaign, and The Trevor Project — to state they wouldn’t oppose the new version of KOSA if it moves forward. (So, not an endorsement, but not-not an endorsement.)
What’s next? As of this publication, DeSantis has not signed or vetoed Florida’s social media ban. Plus, KOSA has yet to be introduced to the Senate for a vote, and it’s flying solo — there is no companion bill in the House, which would give the House and Senate time to consider a measure simultaneously.
However, the fallout from January’s Senate Judiciary Committee — in which lawmakers grilled tech CEOs about their alleged failure to stamp out child abuse material on their platforms — may build momentum for future online safety legislation. We’ll keep our eyes peeled.
Spotify offers everything from podcasts to audiobooks — and with all of that media comes content concerns. The good news: both Spotify Kids and Spotify parental controls allow kids to enjoy their tunes while keeping their ears clean.
If you remember watching the pirate-themed anime series One Piece, you might be excited about the recently released live-action remake now streaming on Netflix and eager to share your love of the show with your kids. But is One Piece for kids?
🔒 Did you know that 90% of caregivers use at least one parental control? That’s according to a new survey from Microsoft.
📱 Social media is associated with a negative impact on youth mental health — but a lot of the research we have tends to focus on adults. In order to really understand cause and effect, researchers need to talk to teens about how they use their phones and social networks. Read more via Science News.
🛑 Meta announced the expansion of the Take It Down program, which is “designed to help teens take back control of their intimate images and help prevent people — whether it’s scammers, ex-partners, or anyone else — from spreading them online.”
Parent Pixels is a biweekly newsletter filled with practical advice, news, and resources to support you and your kids in the digital age. Want this newsletter delivered to your inbox a day early? Subscribe here.
