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This week Moms Off Mute welcomes its first dad, and it's the one who started it all. FOSI Founder and CEO Stephen Balkam joins Jordan for a full-circle conversation about raising two daughters through the dawn of the digital age, and now watching his one-and-a-half-year-old granddaughter interact with phones.

From dial-up childhood and hours spent building cities on Sims, to the arrival of the iPhone alongside the launch of FOSI in 2007, Stephen shares what it was really like navigating each new wave of technology as a parent long before there were guides, quizzes, or communities to help. Including the moment he realized his daughter was majoring in Facebook and texting instead of geography.

Plus: why the "400 texts per month" plan never stood a chance, the parenting advice a TikTok psychologist reminded him of recently (be a team with your partner), and the small tech moments that still make him smile after nearly 20 years in this work.

Homework this week: dance with your kids. You don't have to post it.

This is Moms Off Mute. Want to find out your parenting archetype? Take the quiz at fosi.org.

New episodes every Wednesday. Listen on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

Support the show

Moms Off Mute is produced by the Family Online Safety Institute. Learn more at fosi.org/parenting. Follow Moms Off Mute on Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook. This podcast is for informational and entertainment purposes only and does not constitute professional advice.

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Jana Folmert is back for round two, and this conversation goes deeper into the reality of raising a teenager in a culture where everything gets filmed.

Jordan and Jana get into the promposal problem (yes, some kids only accept if the post gets enough likes), the tricky territory of digital consent when your kid isn't the one posting, and what to do when someone else's phone camera decides your child's viral moment for them.

From "treat people how you want to be treated" as the golden rule of the internet, to why banning under-16s from social media doesn't actually solve the consent problem, this episode is packed with practical wisdom from a Mentor mom of a nearly-16-year-old.

Plus: Jordan's plea to please help her find her glasses in the street instead of filming her looking disheveled, and a reminder that not everything needs to be content.

Homework this week: talk to your kids about digital consent. Ask them what it means to them, and how they'd want to be treated online.

This is Moms Off Mute. Want to find out your parenting archetype? Take the quiz at https://fosi.org/parenting/

New episodes every Wednesday. Listen on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

Support the show

Moms Off Mute is produced by the Family Online Safety Institute. Learn more at fosi.org/parenting. Follow Moms Off Mute on Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook. This podcast is for informational and entertainment purposes only and does not constitute professional advice.

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A Best of Season 1 highlight from Moms Off Mute. In this clip, Jordan gets honest about the daily balancing act of digital parenting when you have two little ones with very different tablet habits.

From the potty training years to the tablet as a last resort, Jordan reflects on how she thinks about screen time not as good or bad, but as a tool. Just like AI, tablets work best when they amplify what your kids are already doing, not replace the connection you have with them.

Plus: why buying your kid a tablet was never actually the plan, why blue light glasses are here to stay, and a reminder to leave the mom guilt at the door. Sometimes the tablet is needed. Sometimes you just need to nap in the closet. Both are allowed.

This is Moms Off Mute.

Listen to the full Seasons on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

Support the show

Moms Off Mute is produced by the Family Online Safety Institute. Learn more at fosi.org/parenting. Follow Moms Off Mute on Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook. This podcast is for informational and entertainment purposes only and does not constitute professional advice.

Send us Fan Mail

A Best of Season 1 highlight from Moms Off Mute. In this clip, Jordan gets real about the assumptions we make when we see a mom handing her kid a screen in public.

From a stressed-out mom of three at the nail salon trying to get through the weekend, to the 10-year-old whose only friends live inside his favorite game, Jordan shares the moments that changed how she thinks about screen time judgment. Not every family has a backyard. Not every kid has a safe place to play. And not every parent has the luxury of a no-screen household.

An honest reminder to lead with grace before we lead with opinions. A tribute to the village, and a call to be a better part of it.

This is Moms Off Mute.

Listen to the full Seasonson Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

Support the show

Moms Off Mute is produced by the Family Online Safety Institute. Learn more at fosi.org/parenting. Follow Moms Off Mute on Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook. This podcast is for informational and entertainment purposes only and does not constitute professional advice.

Send us Fan Mail

A Best of Season 1 highlight from Moms Off Mute. In this clip, Jordan digs into one of the most common (and most overlooked) moments of digital parenting: the sonogram post.

From the moment a pregnancy is announced, a child's digital footprint begins. Jordan unpacks why so many parents-to-be reach for Instagram before the group chat, what your sonogram actually reveals about you and your baby, and why the mom squad might want to reconsider where these milestones live.

No mom shaming, no lectures. Just an honest, unprofessional-professional mom opinion from someone who works at the Family Online Safety Institute.

This is Moms Off Mute.

Listen to the full Season 1 and 2 on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

Support the show

Moms Off Mute is produced by the Family Online Safety Institute. Learn more at fosi.org/parenting. Follow Moms Off Mute on Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook. This podcast is for informational and entertainment purposes only and does not constitute professional advice.

Send us Fan Mail

Welcome to Season 2 of Moms Off Mute! New format, same honest, fun, unfiltered conversations. This season, Jordan is joined each week by a different parent to talk about what digital parenting actually looks like at their stage of life.

First up: Jana Folmert, FOSI's marketing and creative lead, single mom to a nearly-16-year-old, and one of the most no-nonsense humans you'll ever meet. Jana is the Mentor archetype through and through, and the contrast with Jordan's Firewall instincts makes for a fascinating conversation.

In this episode: how gaming helped Jana's son stay connected with his friends through COVID and turned virtual friendships into real-world ones, why she set him up with a VPN and what that actually means in plain parent language, and how she uses a shared Google Map of TikTok viral food trends and restaurant tips he sends her to keep their communication open.

Plus: why "moody teenager" can be a feature, not a bug, what omakase has to do with digital parenting, and the reminder that every archetype evolves as your kid grows up.

Homework this week: ask your kid what their favorite thing you did together in the last month was. Then actually listen to the answer.

Want to find out your own archetype? Take the quiz at fosi.org/parenting/

New episodes every Wednesday. Listen on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

Support the show

Moms Off Mute is produced by the Family Online Safety Institute. Learn more at fosi.org/parenting. Follow Moms Off Mute on Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook. This podcast is for informational and entertainment purposes only and does not constitute professional advice.