Screenagers Blog

AI-powered game characters that kids can actually talk with are starting to appear. It's an emerging trend with real concerns, from privacy to kids turning to AI for support. I share where it's showing up and three questions to ask kids who game.

AI can do remarkable things, but the risks to young people are here now, from deepfakes and sextortion to AI companions linked to teen suicides. In Screenagers: Generation AI, we look at why AI literacy belongs in schools, meaning critical thinking about how AI works and who designed it, not just how to use it. I share what a few states are starting to mandate, and why this can't sit with parents alone.

Many kids have nothing to do after school, so they go home to screens and, increasingly, AI chatbots. Spokane Public Schools tackled this by hiring "Engagement Navigators" who proactively find these students and help them get involved, a program we feature in Screenagers: Generation AI. I also share a patient's story, advice for parents whose teens refuse activities, and ways to help other kids get involved.

Adam's Law was signed in California last week, named for Adam Raine, the 16-year-old who died by suicide in April 2025 after months of conversations with ChatGPT. It bars companion chatbots from encouraging self-harm, claiming to be human, simulating romantic interest in children, or claiming a special understanding of a child. That last group of protections particularly gets my attention. The good news is that people care deeply and are working hard to put guardrails in place, but we can't assume it's all resolved, because it isn't.

Our new movie, Screenagers: Generation AI is out now. Watch the trailer, learn more about the movie, and if you're in the San Francisco Bay area or Seattle, we'd love it if you could make one of our premiere screenings happening on Wednesday!

Meta's $17.1 billion settlement requires new safety measures for under-18 users, including a two-hour daily limit and blocking Instagram and Facebook overnight. I'm frustrated it took this long, and that an overnight block can falsely reassure parents when what we really need is a national push for screen-free sleep. I'm glad it happened. And with AI, we have to move much faster.

Elliston Berry was 14 when a classmate used a nudify app to turn one of her Instagram photos into a fake nude that spread through her school. Almost one in five teens has made AI sexual content or knows someone who has. In our new film, Elliston and her mom Anna explain how they went from that morning to helping pass a federal law, the Take It Down Act.

I've been looking forward to this moment for quite a while, so I'll keep this intro short. Watch the trailer for our new movie, Screenagers: Generation AI in today's blog!

I've been noticing the ways I can be rude, in person and on my phone. This week I share two recent examples of my own, plus why correcting myself out loud strengthens self-awareness. The talk that follows isn't about your kid. It's about you going first.

Google's AI answers now appear in search results whether anyone asks for them or not, and nobody can turn them off. A new Common Sense Media study using pretend child accounts found those answers repeatedly failed young people in crisis... Today's quiz walks through the findings, and you can take it with your kids to spark a meaningful conversation about AI.

An Oakland library has started lending out sports equipment and games alongside books, so families can borrow gear to use at nearby parks. It is a reminder that borrowing and lending between families is a simple way to fill a summer afternoon without a screen, while quietly modelling generosity and humility. We are out of practice at asking, but the person on the other end is usually glad to help.

AI has moved into kids' lives faster than most parents can track, and this roundup gathers seven recent posts to help make sense of it: the AI now baked into the apps and devices kids already use, what happens when they turn to it for connection and support, and how it is reshaping the classroom.