Their Own Devices

Bullying has always been part of growing up, but the 24/7, "always on" digital world has transformed where, when, and how it occurs. Online harassment can follow kids home and infiltrate their safe spaces. It even comes into bed with them at night, via smartphones and tablets. Marc and David speak with Peter, a student who endured severe and persistent online bullying in high school, which triggered a mental health crisis for him. Peter's story is a powerful lesson for parents and teens about this complex and difficult issue. Note, this episode contains sensitive subject matter and language that may not be suitable for children.

Silicon Valley and Wall Street might call it “engagement.” As parents, we might call it, “getting hooked.” Social media optimizes our kids' conversations for maximum profit. There's an art to it, and nothing is accidental. Marc and David sit down with Golden Krishna, a designer at Google and the author of The Best Interface Is No Interface, to talk about the tech tools developers use to make it difficult for our teens to put down their phones or log off social media, even for short periods of time.

Giving kids the freedom to explore, push boundaries, and make mistakes – while still keeping them safe – is a parenting challenge as old as time. But the stakes get especially high –and complicated – when those mistakes are happening on the Internet. Are you a strict parent with unyielding rules about screen time? Are you more hands-off when it comes to trusting your kids with tech? A lot of this depends on your kids and your values. This week, Marc and David talk with two mothers – Adaeze Enekwechi and Lael Bellamy – who have very different parenting styles when it comes to technology, but have more in common than you may think.

Our kids (and many adults, too) are spending an unprecedented amount of time in front of screens. How much is too much? Is all screen time created equal? Marc and David discuss the addictive power of screens, "active" vs. "passive" consumption of media, and how parents can find balance. They sit down with Jenn Reid, a mom of three boys, about using screens as currency, and crossing a social media "point of no return" with her 13-year-old son.

If we want our kids to have a positive relationship with digital technology, we need to understand the teenage mind, and what social media means to adolescents. Kids are wired to push boundaries and make mistakes, and this generation gets to do that in front of the entire world, via smartphone. Marc and David discuss the wonders and limitations of the adolescent psyche, and talk with Athena, a 17-year-old high school senior, about FOMO, her attempt to quit her phone, and growing up with a 24/7 digital social life.

Do you really understand what your kids are doing online? No matter how tech savvy you are, digital natives see the world in a fundamentally different way than all previous generations. That makes parenting an unprecedented challenge. Join Marc Groman, an Obama White House tech and privacy adviser, and David Reitman, an adolescent medical doctor, for candid discussions about teen social media use, and how to navigate this brave new parenting world. Marc and David are also married, and raising a teenage son of their own.