Scrolling 2 Death

In this eye-opening episode, Nicki Reisberg and Denise Champney dive deep into the growing influence of technology in education—unpacking both its false promises and its perils. With schools increasingly reliant on screens and AI-powered tools, what’s being lost? From the risks of inappropriate content slipping through school devices to the hidden dangers of data collection and declining critical thinking skills, this conversation challenges the blind adoption of EdTech. 

Nicki and Denise advocate for a smarter, more balanced approach—one that prioritizes traditional learning methods, safeguards student privacy, and empowers parents to push back against excessive screen time. Could the key to better education be a return to paper, books, and real-world interaction? All signs point to yes.

Tech-safe Learning Coalition (TLC) - Resources for parents related to school-issued tech

Workgroups at Fairplay - Screens in School

Denise's Substack

About Denise Champney

Denise Champney is a school based speech language pathologist with over 25 years experience working in the public school setting supporting students in grades K-12. She is also the owner of a small private practice supporting children and adults with social skill development. Denise created the Educational Technology Industrial Complex timeline for Environmental Progress and is a work group member of the screens in schools action network through Fairplay. She writes about the negative impacts of big tech on education for her substack, From Someone Else's Shoes.

This episode is sponsored by Bark Technologies:

Learn about the Bark Phone.

Learn about the Bark App for iPhones and Androids.

*Use code SCROLLING2DEATH FOR 10% OFF

Learn about the Bark Watch.

In this episode, I sit down (virtually) with Lauren Paer, Programs Manager for Fairplay’s Screen Time Action Network, to unpack the complicated relationship between education and technology. We dive into the growing presence of EdTech in classrooms—how it’s shaping learning, where it’s helping (and where it’s hurting), and what parents really need to know.

Lauren and I tackle big questions: Is all this screen time actually making kids better learners, or is it just a distraction? What are the hidden risks—like data privacy concerns and the way certain tools impact focus and creativity? We also explore how AI is changing the way kids write, read, and think, and why empathy and human connection still matter in a tech-driven world.

Plus, if you’re a parent wondering how to push back against harmful tech in schools, we’ve got you covered. Lauren shares practical advocacy tips, including legal resources you can tap into if your child’s education is being compromised.

Tech-safe Learning Coalition (TLC) - Resources for parents related to school-issued tech

Who's Raising the Kids by Dr. Susan Linn

Workgroups at Fairplay

Screens & Learning Action Kit by Fairplay

Lauren is passionate about helping families raise healthy children in our screen-saturated society. As Programs Manager for Fairplay’s Screen Time Action Network, she supports the heart of the Network, its work groups and their impactful initiatives. Before joining Fairplay, she worked on screen time legislation and hosted the show, Screen Time Reset. Lauren studied economics at the University of Pennsylvania and worked on Wall Street in a previous life. She now splits her time between the Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia and her hometown of Honolulu, where she enjoys hiking, attending workshops/conferences on a wide array of topics, and spending time with her friends and family.

Meta has silenced Facebook whistleblower Sarah Wynn-Williams, winning an emergency ruling to stop her from telling her story. 

Sarah worked directly with Facebook executives for 7 years and describes the dark realities of working at Facebook in her new book, Careless People. I was booked to interview Sarah here on Scrolling 2 Death this morning, March 13th, but the interview was canceled following the ruling. Since we are unable to hear from Sarah directly, I'm giving you a few highlights here and encourage you to purchase her book and hear her story first-hand. 

 Kate Doerksen, co-founder of Sage Haven, appears on Scrolling 2 Death to share insights from her research on tech challenges families are facing. After witnessing her family member suffer from a mental health crisis caused by bullying and harmful social media interactions, Kate interviewed hundreds of parents, youth, and child psychologists to try to find a solution to the harms of the current digital landscape.

Key themes indicate families struggle with screen addiction and screen-time disputes.  A surprising discovery shows that kids are messaging online as early as second grade. Despite not having a phone, they access YouTube and messages from family tablets and smartwatches. These activities may seem harmless, but parental supervision and guidance is key - especially at a young age.  

Kate believes parents need help creating a slow, safe onramp to technology for their children. That’s why Kate created Sage Chat, a new app that will give kids a safer way to message and empower parents to take a phased approach to supervising online activity. Tune in to hear more about Kate’s research and resources to help parents.

This episode is sponsored by Bark Technologies.

Learn about the Bark Phone.

Learn about the Bark App for iPhones and Androids.

*Use code SCROLLING2DEATH FOR 10% OFF

Learn about the Bark Watch.

Nicki Reisberg and Titania Jordan dive into the real impact of technology on parenting and kids’ mental health, sharing insight from a recent lecture by Jonathan Haidt they attended in Santa Barbara, CA. 

They also break down the biggest digital dangers kids face today though Bark's new Annual Report—like exposure to harmful content, cyberbullying, and online predators. With so many challenges, parents are left trying to figure out how to make the best tech choices for their kids. This conversation sheds light on safer solutions, including those from Bark Technologies, and encourages parents to take action in protecting their children while promoting healthier digital habits.

Bark Annual Report: https://www.bark.us/annual-report-2024/

[Book] The Anxious Generation: https://www.theanxiousgeneration.com

[Book] Parental Control: https://www.titaniajordan.com/resources/parental-control

This episode is sponsored by Bark Technologies. 

• Learn about the Bark Phone
• Learn about the Bark App for iPhones and Androids  *Use code SCROLLING2DEATH FOR 10% OFF
• Learn about the Bark Watch 

Many people ask if there’s a safer social media option. Until now, we’ve said no. But there’s hope on the horizon: ⁠scrollhappy.com⁠. Founded by Nick Rotola, who was appalled by the lack of ethics in big tech and concerned for his daughter’s future, he decided to take matters into his own hands.

Up (the parent co of ⁠scrollhappy.com⁠) hired top engineers from Meta - who were equally concerned for their children's future -  to build a science-backed algorithm that will uplift users, not addict them. Their KPIs won’t be ‘maximize time spent’ but instead ‘maximize happiness.’ Clinical experts on his team are using brain scans to promote content that boosts mood and removes proven toxic content traps like porn, politics, anorexia, and unrealistic lifestyles.

While we don’t love the idea of our kids spending their time scrolling, we’d much rather them have an option to “scroll happy.” Tune in to hear Nick of Up and Nicki of Scrolling 2 Death talk more about this promising new social movement.

Nick Rotola is a Father, Husband, and Serial Entrepreneur. As a protective father of two young kids, Nick designed a science-backed algorithm to flip the script on doomscrolling. Instead of serving up negativity or sensationalized content, UP's Scroll Happy™ algorithm focuses on videos that genuinely make you feel good.

With a strict approval process for creators, UP is free from porn, political content, and unrealistic lifestyle pressures. Safety and happiness are embedded in its DNA, offering a complete redesign of social media that puts people before profit. Social media got you down? 

Get UP. Learn more at ⁠scrollhappy.com⁠.

Are you concerned about your child using AI chatbots? Research shows that face-to-face connection is vital for healthy brain development and mental well-being, yet companion bots continue to draw users deeper into a virtual reality. We recently covered the dangers of Character.ai, but there’s another troubling app on our radar: Replika. 

Marketed as an “AI companion who cares” and “is always on your side,” Replika uses deceptive tactics to target vulnerable people, such as those going through a breakup. Their claim to cure loneliness is misleading at best, and potentially harmful at worst. 

Like many apps, Replika thrives on user engagement - employing addictive strategies that fuel emotional dependence on the chatbot. And a premium subscription offers access to more intimate conversations and near-explicit content. 

Adam Billen ofEncode, a tech ethics organization, joins Nicki of Scrolling 2 Death to share why he filed an FTC complaint against Replika and why parents need to be aware of the risks these platforms pose. Tune in to learn more. 

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:

• Denmark to Ban Mobile Phones in Schools (and recommends no smartphone or tablet until 13)
• New Bill in Georgia Would Bar Kids Under 14 from Social Media
• TikTok Users Are Dropping Heavy Things on their Feet (new trend)
• [REPORT] Buying to Belong by Fairplay
• [RESEARCH] Early Childhood Mental Health & Social Media Use by Children & Screens

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

Worried about your child’s smartphone use? It’s not too late to make a change. Kathleen Barlow, founder of the “Swimming UpScreen” blog, returns to Scrolling 2 Death to tell us how she reclaimed the simplicity of childhood for her kids. 

With six children aged 18 to 31, Kathleen has seen the dramatic impact smartphones have on childhood development. In 2018, she gave her twin daughters (then age 12) smartphones - which was typical at the time. At 17 and nearing ‘adulthood,’ she worried that their phone use was hindering necessary life skills. She swapped the smartphones for ‘simple’ phones with just calls, texts, and Spotify. No social media, no internet browser.

It wasn’t easy. The girls were not happy. But she took an intentional, gradual approach to introduce the change. The result? She has witnessed a positive transformation in her daughters’ lives now that phones are no longer the focus. Tune in to hear Kathleen and Nicki of Scrolling 2 Death share advice for parents looking to scale back their kids’ screen time.

This episode is sponsored by Bark Technologies:

Learn about the Bark Phone

Learn about the Bark App for iPhones and Androids.

*Use code SCROLLING2DEATH FOR 10% OFF

Learn about the Bark Watch

We asked digital safety advocate Adam Dodge which social media app is safest for kids. Sadly, his answer was none. He goes further to say, “While I can’t recommend one, I can recommend the one to stay away from: Snapchat.” Not surprised.  However, an alarming new social trend worries him even more - chatbots.

Research shows kids spend more time on Character AI than TikTok. Why? Companion bots, like Character AI, are more addictive than social media because they simulate real human relationships without the potential for conflict. They offer 24/7 validation - a “friend” who is always there to support, entertain and agree with you. It’s nice in theory but harmful in practice.

Companion bots are poised to have the most disruptive technological impact on healthy relationships and violence prevention. And the Large Language Models (AI) powering them can be unpredictable and misunderstood – even by the data scientists who built them. Tune in as Adam Dodge, Founder of EndTAB, and Nicki of Scrolling 2 Death discuss their research on chatbots and why parents should take an intentional approach to educating themselves and preparing their children for a healthier relationship with social media.

Adam is a digital safety advocate, attorney and speaker who believes you do not have to be a tech expert to protect yourself or others in the digital age.  As the founder of EndTAB, he has trained hundreds of organizations to address tech-facilitated abuse and improve the safety and wellbeing of people online. Adam advises the White House Task Force to Address Online Harassment and Abuse, sits on the World Economic Forum's Digital Justice Advisory Committee and is a special advisor to the Coalition Against Stalkerware. His work and expertise has been featured on NBC, CBS and NPR and in Time Magazine, Rolling Stone, the New York Times, Vogue, Wired, GQ and others. 

This episode is sponsored by Bark Technologies.

Learn about the Bark Phone: https://info.bark.us/scrolling2deathbp  
Learn about the Bark App for iPhones and Androids. https://info.bark.us/scrolling2death_bark 
*Use code SCROLLING2DEATH FOR 10% OFF
Learn about the Bark Watch: https://barkparentalcontrols.pxf.io/c/5214646/2204011/17000