Despite the US Surgeon General's call earlier this year for Congress to approve a law that would require mental health warnings on social media for younger users, and heart-breaking stories about children suffering terrible trauma, up to and including death, as a result of negative online interactions; we are living in a world where children are just not safe online.

They're not safe either from the peer pressure of people they know, or the sick manipulations of strangers–and even AI chatbots– they meet online, and so far; there hasn't been any effective legal blockade put up to protect them from any of it–at least; not in the United States.

Australia recently passed a total ban on social media for anyone under the age of 16, and while the State of Ohio did pass a law last year requiring requiring parental consent for children under the age of 16 to use social media apps; it has been blocked from going into effect pending the outcome of a First Amendment legal challenge filed by a group representing big tech companies.

So, what can parents, and other concerned adults do in the meantime, to protect children who are interacting with one another and the world at large on social media and gaming platforms that open them up to all kinds of harms including bullying, "sextortion", anxiety, depression, suicide, kidnapping, and more?

We talked with University of Akron Psychology Professor, Dr. Toni Bisconti.

Listen now.