Scrolling 2 Death

Harrison Haynes was a 12-year-old, video game-loving middle school student who met a stranger on Xbox. The stranger became Harrison's "best friend," sharing intimate conversations and advice. Over the next 18 months, Harrison became the victim of "grooming," where predators establish an emotional connection with a minor under the age of consent, to lower the child's inhibitions with the objective of sexual or emotional abuse.

On today's episode, Harrison vulnerably shares his story in order to warn parents about grooming. Predators are using gaming platforms and social media to target children and they can be very difficult to spot. Harrison gives a ton of specific advice to parents about how to prepare our children for this threat and how to support a child who has experienced grooming. 

You can connect with Harrison on LinkedIn or reach him directly at [email protected].

The Big Tech Gut Check is a super quick, weekly update on all things social media and Big Tech.

Social Media & Big Tech highlights for this week:

Check back on Fridays for everything that parents need to know about the platforms our children are spending hours on every day.

The internet is now, decidedly, unsafe for kids...including A.I. generated platforms. At Angel Kids AI, their mission is to use AI to flip the script; making the internet safe for kids. 

I brought in Tim Estes, founder of Angel Kids AI, to educate parents about A.I., the harms, the potential and how to introduce our kids to A.I. tools safely and productively.

Tim and I dig into online harms, reviewing popular AI products like Amazon's Alexa, ChatGPT and others. Parents will leave this conversation with a healthy understanding of how to introduce AI to our kids in a way that enhances their creativity and doesn't harm them. 

In addition to joining the waitlist for Angel Kids AI, here are a few AI tools that Tim recommends trying out with your child:

About Tim:

Rick Lane was there at the beginning; when MySpace was the leader of the pack and Facebook was moving fast and breaking things. He had a front row seat to it all going wrong and is speaking out.

In this eye-opening conversation, Rick describes how the initial intention of self-regulation and light government touch in the tech industry has led to the lack of accountability and failure in protecting children online.

Rick Lane is a tech policy expert, child safety advocate, and the founder and CEO of IGGY Ventures LLC. IGGY advises and invests in companies, projects, and public policy initiatives that can positively impact society.

Connect with Rick on LinkedIn.

Pass KOSA!

To give our children the protections they deserve, we need the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA). KOSA passed in the Senate 91-3 and needs passage in the House.

I brought in CMO of Bark Technologies, Titania Jordan, to discuss the implications of Apple's iOS 18 update, focusing on its impact on child safety and parental controls.

We also discuss implications of privacy and general advice related to kids and devices.

This episode is sponsored by Bark Technologies.

The Big Tech Gut Check is a super quick, weekly update on all things social media and Big Tech.

Social Media & Big Tech highlights for this week:

Check back on Fridays for everything that parents need to know about the platforms our children are spending hours on every day.

This episode is sponsored by Bark Technologies. These days, parents have access to a safer smartphone for kids called the Bark Phone.

Laura Lawrence is a wealth of knowledge between her experience as a teacher, speaker, author and most importantly, a mom of 4. We had an honest conversation that covers all areas of screen time and social media.

I am especially grateful to Laura for sharing a sensitive story about her son's experience with an online harm.

Laura Lawrence is a 4x best-selling author, motivational speaker, mindfulness coach, entrepreneur, philanthropist and mother of four.

Connect with Laura

NCMEC's Take it Down Service

If there is an explicit image of you or your child on the internet, please request removal at takeitdown.ncmec.org

This episode is sponsored by Bark Technologies.

Today's episode of Scrolling 2 Death features a vulnerable conversation with a mom in Colorado named Lori Schott. Lori tragically and suddenly lost her 17-year-old daughter to suicide in November of 2020.

After Anna's death, Lori turned to her phone for answers. What she found on TikTok is every parent's worst nightmare -- a steady stream of videos targeting Anna with promotion of self-harm, suicide and depression.

Lori is fighting back against the companies who harmed her daughter through advocacy work and support of the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA). Social media platforms will never choose child safety over profit, so they must be forced.

My heart goes out to the Schott family for the lost of their daughter Anna, forever 17.

This episode is sponsored by Bark Technologies.

I was honored to speak with pro football Hall of Fame running back Emmitt Smith about his work in raising awareness of the dangers of opioid use.

Emmitt Smith teamed up with Emergent BioSolutions to break down the stigma around opioid use and accidental overdose, which continues to fuel a national epidemic impacting people from all walks of life.

During Emmitt's decorated 15-year professional career, Smith faced multiple injuries and often chose to play through the pain, because he knew the risks associated with opioids as he witnessed promising athletes develop a dependency, lost teammates to accidental overdose and watched loved ones struggle.

The Ready to Rescue campaign creates open dialogue about opioid risks and educate the public on how to be prepared to help save a life in an opioid overdose emergency.

Research shows that 44% of opioid-related deaths in states evaluated had a bystander present, but naloxone overdose reversal medications were rarely administered.

Parents should visit their local pharmacy to stock up on NARCAN Nasal Spray, which is available over the counter and can reverse the effects of an opioid overdose or poisoning in minutes.

I encourage you to share this interview (and the interviews linked below) with your teenagers and family members so that they are aware of how deadly opioids can be.

To listen to my interviews with grieving parents who have lost a child to fentanyl poisoning, please visit this link.

This is the worst story I've ever heard, but I'm so grateful I got to know Emily.

Today we meet an incredibly kind and animal-loving teenager named Emily Popolo. Her mom describes her with a smile on her face, despite Emily's struggles with bipolar disorder and learning disabilities.

Emily faced bullying that became relentless after the bullies took to social media to target her. It was too much for Emily and at 17 years old, she died by suicide.

This tragic story doesn't end there. The bullies were not finished with Emily. Listen or watch as Emily's mom, Erin, takes us through the series of events following Emily's death.

Trigger Warning: This episode goes into detail describing a teenage suicide and the horrific cyberbullying that occured before and after Emily's death. Please listen with caution and join me in offering support to the Popolo family.

P.S. It was a sunny day at Erin's lake house during the interview. The sun brightens her face mid-way through and shortly after, she adjusts her position. I like to think that was Emily shining her bright light down on us, in support of her mom.

This episode is sponsored by Bark Technologies.