Friend, We recently chatted to parents face-to-face on the streets of Washington DC and London, and also by email. Parents told us how they really feel about their kids being on social media, and what they would ask these companies’ bosses if they had the chance. Parents are worried. They told us they are concerned about their kids’ safety and mental health, and about how the endless scrolling on social media is damaging their kids’ brains. Here’s a bit of what we heard: They’re becoming slaves to the scroll. It’s a zombie life, stifling any creativity they might have with some headspace I have two girls, and social media is full of dangerous body image content. It doesn’t take much to spark something that will take them down the rabbit hole As an educator, it is increasingly difficult to counter the misinformation that young people think is “news” There are plenty of ways to make these platforms safer that probably wouldn’t cost them much. And even if they did, it would still be the right thing to do
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