Screenagers Blog

The first of more than a thousand school district lawsuits against TikTok, Snapchat, Meta, and YouTube has settled, with a small Kentucky district awarded $27 million. Discovery records made public showed the companies designed to reach kids during the school day, from in-class alerts to keeping notifications on against safety teams' advice, while research finds students spend about 1.5 hours of a 6.5-hour school day on their phones.

Tech journalist Manoush Zomorodi recently shared with Delaney the story behind her new book Body Electric and the citizen science experiment she ran with NPR and Dr. Keith Diaz of Columbia. The 20,000-person study found that five minutes of movement for every thirty minutes of sitting dropped fatigue by up to 28%, lowered blood glucose and blood pressure, and improved focus and mood. Plus, five practical reframes for talking to kids about movement without the eye rolls.

The first of 1,200+ school district lawsuits against social media companies just settled, with Meta, YouTube, Snap, and TikTok all paying out rather than face a jury. Meta points to its Teen Accounts feature as proof of safety, but a study by former Meta safety lead Arturo Bejar found only 8 of 47 advertised features actually work as described.

Teen psychologist Lisa Damour breaks down three manipulative tactics online games and apps use to push kids into spending: algorithms that time pitches to when kids are tired or bored, scarcity tactics like countdown timers that trigger impulse buys, and in-app currencies (gems, coins, tokens) designed to disguise real dollar costs. Research shows teens resist these tactics better once they understand them.

Hobbies offer benefits at every age, from helping children build a sense of self to giving retirees a renewed sense of purpose. The word traces back to the 1400s as a nickname for a small horse, later evolving into today's meaning of a pastime pursued for its own sake. Parents can spark interest by sharing their own hobby histories, building a family-history hobby list, and trying new activities together. Summer is an ideal time to lean into offline hobbies as an antidote to screen saturation.

The Los Angeles Unified School District, the second-largest in the country, just approved districtwide screen time limits starting in the 2026–27 school year. Students through 1st grade won't use school devices, grades 2–5 will move from 1-to-1 iPads to shared laptop carts, and older students will face screen time limits with YouTube blocked. Devices also won't be allowed during passing periods, lunch, or recess. Credit goes to the parent- and teacher-led group Schools Beyond Screens, whose organizing and advocacy work helped make it happen.

When kids break a rule, most parents default to handing down a consequence. But research on autonomy-supportive parenting shows that inviting kids to help decide the consequence leads to deeper learning, stronger accountability, and even kinder behavior toward others. Younger kids tend to overpunish themselves while teens often go easy, and both create natural openings for parents to guide the conversation. The goal isn't softer consequences. It's consequences that actually teach.

Snapchat and Instagram both have AI chatbots built in by default, with no way to fully disable them. Meta's own internal documents revealed policy decisions that allowed minors to receive romantic and sexual content from its AI systems. Meanwhile, Snapchat's premium AI features are designed to increase engagement, and Meta is now using teens' AI conversations to target them with personalized ads.

New research from the Rithm Project surveyed 2,383 teens and young adults to understand how AI is shaping their relationships. While most use AI for information and tasks, a notable group are turning to AI characters for emotional support, with over half of this group reporting they feel they have no one to turn to. These findings offer an important window into how some teens are really using AI, and why parents need to be having these conversations.

A Los Angeles jury has found Meta and YouTube liable for designing platforms that addicted a child and harmed her mental health, the first verdict of its kind. The case shifted the legal debate away from free speech and Section 230 protections toward platform design and its impact on young users. This is being called social media's "Big Tobacco moment," and it is one worth explaining to the kids in your life.

Kids with ADHD benefit most when parents provide support at the exact moment behavior happens, a science-backed approach called "point of performance." Abruptly shifting from high-stimulation screen time to demanding tasks creates a "dopamine cliff," a brain chemistry drop that often shows up as resistance and conflict. Understanding both concepts helps parents smooth those transitions and build real skills and confidence in their kids over time.