The rise of AI is often presented as an opportunity to make parenting easier, but what happens when technology begins to replace, rather than support, the human interactions children need most? 

On this episode of Screen Deep, host Kris Perry dives into this timely question with Dr. Dana Suskind, Founder and Co-Director of the TMW Center for Early Learning + Public Health and author of the book, Human Raised: Nurturing Connection, Curiosity, and Lifelong Learning in the Age of AI. Dr. Suskind highlights the importance of back-and-forth human interactions in early development, and shares which AI trends parents should be most wary of. She provides guidance for evaluating the use of AI tools, including using it to enhance, not replace, parenting. 

In this episode, you will learn:

• Which essential “human” parts of parenting cannot be offloaded onto AI
• Why AI can be integrated as a parenting “copilot” – but never the pilot
• Five risky AI behaviors to watch for in parenting or child use of AI
• Four value principles you can use as a framework for making intentional choices about AI
• The human skills parents should help their children develop to flourish in the AI age
• How to evaluate AI tools for use in family life

For more resources and research on this topic visit the Learn and Explore section of the Children and Screens website (https://www.childrenandscreens.org)

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Music: 'Life in Silico' by Scott Buckley - released under CC-BY 4.0. www.scottbuckley.com.au

The rise of influencers has changed the conversation around advertising, marketing, and behavior change in adults as well as children. How do influencers and their sponsored content impact children’s thoughts, feelings, and behaviors? On this episode of Screen Deep, host Kris Perry interviews Dr. Liselot Hudders, Professor of Marketing Ethics at Ghent University, to unpack her research on how influencing works, why influencers produce content aimed at youth, what children understand about digital advertising techniques, and how policy plays an important role in protecting children from deceptive marketing. She also explores issues around “kidfluencers” and the use of children in parent influencer content. 

In this episode, you will learn:

• Why children trust influencers and how it shapes their behavior
• How technological advances are allowing increasingly sophisticated influencer marketing techniques to reach kids
• Why sponsored content can be hard for children to recognize 
• What influencer financial disclosures don’t accomplish (and why they are easy to miss) 
• What parents can do to to counteract negative impacts of influencer content on children

For more resources and research on this topic visit the Learn and Explore section of the Children and Screens website (https://www.childrenandscreens.org)

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Facebook: Children and Screens: Institute of Digital Media and Child Development
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Music: 'Life in Silico' by Scott Buckley - released under CC-BY 4.0. www.scottbuckley.com.au

Children today are inundated with sophisticated marketing and ads online, particularly for unhealthy foods which can contribute to obesity and other negative health impacts. On this episode of Screen Deep, host Kris Perry is joined by food policy expert and leader in the fight against childhood obesity Dr. Kelly Brownell to discuss the ways in which this “toxic food environment” impacts children’s health and well-being. Dr. Brownell explores the addictive nature of highly processed and sugary foods and beverages, and draws parallels between the food and social media industries on how they prey on children’s vulnerabilities. He emphasizes the importance of policy solutions to help families cope with the powerful effect of food advertising on children’s health.

In this episode, you will learn:

• How screen use is linked to childhood obesity
• How daily exposure to large amounts of food advertising influences child and adolescent food choices and behaviors
• Why the food industry is incentivized to market unhealthy and addictive foods to children starting at young ages
• Why parents need support from policymakers and regulators to help protect children from the health effects of unhealthy online food marketing 
• The similarities between the food industry’s use of additives and the tobacco industry’s use of ingredients to manipulate desire and increase product appeal and dependence

For more resources and research on this topic visit the Learn and Explore section of the Children and Screens website (https://www.childrenandscreens.org)

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Facebook: Children and Screens: Institute of Digital Media and Child Development
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Bluesky: @childrenandscreens.bsky.social

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Music: 'Life in Silico' by Scott Buckley - released under CC-BY 4.0. www.scottbuckley.com.au

For decades, researchers have studied why babies and young children learn differently from screens than they do from real-world experiences. On this episode of Screen Deep, host Kris Perry is joined by Dr. Rachel Barr, Professor of Psychology at Georgetown University and a leading expert in early childhood and digital media. Dr. Barr describes why it’s difficult for young children to learn from digital media, a concept called the “video transfer deficit effect,” and explains which specific features of high quality media paired with parenting practices can support learning and development. Dr. Barr also describes why video chatting is often an exception to screen time guidelines, how family media plans can help family relationships, and the importance of considering children’s environments holistically when studying how they interact with and are impacted by digital media.

In this episode, you will learn:

• Why it can be difficult for young children to learn from digital media and how researchers discovered the “transfer deficit effect” 
• How parental guidance and educational app design can make learning from media easier for children
• What features to look for in educational shows and apps 
• One expert-recommended app for young children and what makes it stand out 
• Why thinking more expansively beyond “screen time” is essential for evaluating your child’s media use
• How parents’ own media use — and how they talk about it with their children — can shape family relationships

For more resources and research on this topic visit the Learn and Explore section of the Children and Screens website (https://www.childrenandscreens.org)

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Follow Children and Screens on: 

Facebook: Children and Screens: Institute of Digital Media and Child Development
Instagram: @childrenandscreens
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Bluesky: @childrenandscreens.bsky.social

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Music: 'Life in Silico' by Scott Buckley - released under CC-BY 4.0. www.scottbuckley.com.au

As courts increasingly examine the impact of social media on young people, new legal approaches are beginning to reshape how responsibility for harms are understood, shifting the focus from content to platform design. On this special episode of Screen Deep, host Kris Perry speaks with Matthew Bergman, founding attorney of the Social Media Victims Law Center, professor of Lewis & Clark Law School, and a member of Children and Screens’ Scientific Advisory Board. Bergman also served on the legal team representing the plaintiff in a landmark case examining the impact  of social media platform design on youth.

Together, Kris and Matt explore why it has historically been difficult to bring lawsuits against technology companies, how recent litigation strategies are more effective than past efforts, and what these developments could mean for the future of platform accountability.

In this episode, you will learn:

• Why social media companies have historically avoided accountability for harm encountered through their products, and how that may be changing 
• How recent lawsuits have uncovered key internal evidence that social media platforms were designed to be addictive to young users despite known risks 
• How legal experts are using scientific research and product liability law to help define harms to youth and establish social media platform accountability
• Why recent lawsuits are focusing on social media platform design rather than content, and why that matters 
• Why legislative change is needed to assist the effort to enforce social media platform transparency and accountability

For more resources and research on this topic visit the Learn and Explore section of the Children and Screens website (https://www.childrenandscreens.org)

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Follow Children and Screens on: 

Facebook: Children and Screens: Institute of Digital Media and Child Development
Instagram: @childrenandscreens
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Bluesky: @childrenandscreens.bsky.social

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Music: 'Life in Silico' by Scott Buckley - released under CC-BY 4.0. www.scottbuckley.com.au

How is digital media use rewiring children’s brains – and how can these impacts be measured? In this episode of Screen Deep, host Kris Perry discusses the latest research on screen use and brain development with Dr. Tzipi Horowitz-Kraus, Associate Professor in the Faculty of Education in Science and Technology and the Faculty of Biomedical Engineering at the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology. Dr. Horowitz-Kraus provides an overview of how the brain processes language and reading, what her brain imaging research shows about how these processes and related cognitive skills work differently with digital media, as well as how the presence of mobile phones and other technology can disrupt attention.

In this episode, you will learn:

• What brain imaging is revealing about how screen use affects the developing brains of children
• Why specific areas of the brain and the networks that connect them each matter for child reading and language development
• How to read to your child to engage attention and creativity
• Differences in how print versus digital reading activate cognitive regions in the brain
• How the mere physical presence of a smartphone can affect children’s attention, impulse control, and task performance

For more resources and research on this topic visit the Learn and Explore section of the Children and Screens website (https://www.childrenandscreens.org)

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Follow Children and Screens on: 

Facebook: Children and Screens: Institute of Digital Media and Child Development
Instagram: @childrenandscreens
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Bluesky: @childrenandscreens.bsky.social

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Music: 'Life in Silico' by Scott Buckley - released under CC-BY 4.0. www.scottbuckley.com.au

How do online environments shape children’s health and well-being? Which features have the biggest impact, and how can we make sense of the very different ways individual children experience the same digital world? On this episode of Screen Deep, host Kris Perry discusses new research into this “digital exposome” with Dr. Ran Barzilay, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Barzilay explains how researchers are beginning to measure and quantify online environmental factors, cutting-edge findings from his study on adolescent smartphone ownership and health risks, and why making recommendations can be challenging when conclusive evidence is lacking. He also provides concrete suggestions for parents, including signs to look for when deciding whether it might be appropriate to introduce a smartphone. 

In this episode, you will learn:

• How researchers are using new data techniques to quantify parts of the digital environment that may affect child health and why that matters for families 
• What new, cutting-edge research suggests about the age of first smartphone ownership and negative health outcomes
• What emerging evidence is showing about other digital use patterns and child health - and what questions scientists are still trying to answer 
• How one leading researcher is  thinking about digital parenting decisions for his own family based on the new evidence

For more resources and research on this topic visit the Learn and Explore section of the Children and Screens website (https://www.childrenandscreens.org)

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Follow Children and Screens on: 

Facebook: Children and Screens: Institute of Digital Media and Child Development
Instagram: @childrenandscreens
LinkedIn: Children and Screens: Institute of Digital Media and Child Development
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Bluesky: @childrenandscreens.bsky.social

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Music: 'Life in Silico' by Scott Buckley - released under CC-BY 4.0. www.scottbuckley.com.au

AI “friends” and companions are increasingly providing children and adolescents with social interactions and perceived “relationships,” despite being a technology that itself has no need for empathy or emotional reciprocity. What are the costs of attachment to these AI products to children and adolescents’ social skill development?   

On this episode of Screen Deep, host Kris Perry is joined by Dr. Pilyoung Kim, Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Denver and the Director of the Brain, Artificial Intelligence, and Child Center. A developmental psychologist with a background studying child brain development and early relationships, Dr. Kim recently pivoted her work to focus on these pertinent questions about the effects of children socializing with AI products. Dr. Kim describes her research examining children’s responses to different types of AI systems, explains what makes certain children more vulnerable to developing problematic attachments to chatbots, and suggests better product design approaches to minimize harm while facilitating helpful uses. 

In this episode, you will learn:

• What makes AI chatbots feel “human” to kids and why that matters
• Which children are more vulnerable to forming strong attachments to AI “best friends” — and the hidden costs of constant interaction with unconditionally supportive AI tools
• Why children who are still developing their understanding of relationships and appropriate boundaries may be at risk from human-like AI companions  
• How proactive design changes could make AI companions safer for youth to use
• What parents and caregivers can do to help children and adolescents navigate AI companions  more safely 
• What researchers urgently need to study next to identify and support youth most at risk of overattachment to AI chatbots

For more resources and research on this topic visit the Learn and Explore section of the Children and Screens website (https://www.childrenandscreens.org)

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Bluesky: @childrenandscreens.bsky.social

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Music: 'Life in Silico' by Scott Buckley - released under CC-BY 4.0. www.scottbuckley.com.au

Schools are increasingly deploying AI-powered technologies in classrooms that promise to revolutionize education, yet there is growing concern over the risks to children and adolescents’ learning by doing so. What do children, adolescents, and teachers think about how AI is being used in the classroom, and do these technologies actually impact learning and key cognitive skill development? In this episode of Screen Deep, host Kris Perry explores these questions with educational technology expert Dr. Adam Dubé, Associate Professor of Learning Sciences at McGill University. Dr. Dubé describes his research on how youth and educators view AI, key pitfalls to avoid when using AI for learning, and how past lessons from introducing technologies can inform the way we think about educational AI. He shares what parents need to know about selecting a good educational app for their children, and how to make informed decisions about utilizing technology to enhance, not replace, the learning process. 

In this episode, you will learn:

• How relying on AI for task completion can interfere with the development of fundamental skills like creativity and detailed reading.
• Simple questions educators and students can ask to determine if AI use is offloading thinking or supporting learning.
• How teachers’ opinions of AI use in the classroom have changed over time and what’s causing growing concern. 
• What is needed for more thoughtful integration of AI into classrooms.
• How to identify a quality educational app and why parents often overlook those features when selecting digital apps for children.

For more resources and research on this topic visit the Learn and Explore section of the Children and Screens website (https://www.childrenandscreens.org)

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Follow Children and Screens on: 

Facebook: Children and Screens: Institute of Digital Media and Child Development
Instagram: @childrenandscreens
LinkedIn: Children and Screens: Institute of Digital Media and Child Development
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Bluesky: @childrenandscreens.bsky.social

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Music: 'Life in Silico' by Scott Buckley - released under CC-BY 4.0. www.scottbuckley.com.au

Children are increasingly encountering AI characters for both educational and entertainment purposes, but many of the chatbots and other AI products they interact with are not designed with child development and safety in mind. On this episode of Screen Deep, host Kris Perry pulls back the curtain on AI and child-centered design with Dr. Sonia Tiwari, a children’s media researcher and AI design expert. Drawing on her experience in game character design and her work bridging industry and academia, Dr. Tiwari explores how children think about and are drawn to AI characters, why AI products commonly used by children and adolescents today often fail at prioritizing child development, and the primary risks of child interactions with AI characters. She also offers insights on how products can be better designed to meet children’s and families’ needs, and what kinds of uses of AI characters might be helpful for children.

In this episode, you will learn:

• How AI characters are experienced differently  than traditional media characters – and why it matters for children and adolescents.
• Why the developing brains of younger children have a more difficult time understanding the fictional nature of today’s AI characters.
• What defines a child-appropriate AI character grounded in developmental science.
• How parents and caregivers can use AI characters with children in purpose-driven and healthy ways.
• What social AI platform developers should consider to ensure their products are more ethically designed and centered on children’s developmental needs. 

For more resources and research on this topic visit the Learn and Explore section of the Children and Screens website (https://www.childrenandscreens.org)

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Follow Children and Screens on: 

Facebook: Children and Screens: Institute of Digital Media and Child Development
Instagram: @childrenandscreens
LinkedIn: Children and Screens: Institute of Digital Media and Child Development
X: @childrenscreens
Bluesky: @childrenandscreens.bsky.social

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Music: 'Life in Silico' by Scott Buckley - released under CC-BY 4.0. www.scottbuckley.com.au