Hi Reader, It's been a big week in the world of kids + tech. Last week, Meta agreed to pay up to $17.1 billion to settle state lawsuits claiming Instagram and Facebook were built to be addictive to kids. It's the biggest settlement of its kind since Big Tobacco, and people close to the case are calling it social media's "Big Tobacco moment" outright. Three things worth knowing: what actually changes for your teen, a strange bet Meta placed on its own competitors, and why the tobacco...
7 days ago • 2 min read
Hi Reader, A few months ago I sat down with a group of middle schoolers to talk about their family's tech norms. Within minutes, the conversation flipped from the students' own screen time to their parents'. Every kid wanted to chime in. And honestly, their perspectives were more nuanced than I thought they would be. They didn't ask for their parents to get off their phones. They asked for eye contact when they wanted attention, and an honest answer instead of silence: "I'm finishing an email...
14 days ago • 2 min read
Hi Reader, Last week a DocuSign landed in my inbox: an agreement to receive a Chromebook for my daughter’s first grade classroom. There was no opt-out. No “no thank you” box. Just a document outlining how the device would be used and what happens if it gets damaged. My heart sank a little. Okay, let's be honest... my heart sank a lot. In my opinion, first grade feels way too young to hand a kid a laptop. I still don’t know exactly how it’ll be used in her classroom, and I have a lot of...
21 days ago • 2 min read
Hi Reader, Ten states banned phones in schools last year. This year, it's 35. And 26 of those states have gone full bell-to-bell: no phones from the first bell to the last. Rhode Island, Michigan, and California all have bans taking effect for the 2026–27 school year. New York's statewide rule is now the largest bell-to-bell policy in the country. If your kid's school hasn't sent home a policy yet, it's probably coming. Here's why I still think this is a win, not just an inconvenience: teens...
about 1 month ago • 1 min read
Hi Reader,If someone stole my phone right now and opened Instagram, they'd learn a lot about me: I'm a mom of young kids who is obsessed with food, silly parenting content, and self-improvement. But how much of that is actually me? And how much of it is a feed that's spent years quietly teaching me who to be? Fair question for an adult to sit with. Bigger one for a tween who is deep in the developmental work of identity development. Ask a tween why their feed looks the way it does, and most...
about 1 month ago • 2 min read
Hi Reader, Last month my extended family spent two weeks in Sicily celebrating my dad's 75th birthday. The food, the views, the weather — all incredible. But the real gift was something simpler: two uninterrupted weeks together. We spent hours driving between towns in a packed van, with all the cousins (ages 3–12) piled in with us. A handful of podcasts (Magical Storybook, Story Shed, Circle Round, But Why?) held all five rapt at once. It got me wondering: does listening "count" the same as...
about 2 months ago • 1 min read
Hi Reader, Growing up, the TV was on a lot at my house. Good Morning America hummed along every morning while my mom got us out the door. When my dad came home from work, the evening news turned on. I never thought twice about it because this was the case at most of my friends' houses too. At that time, the TV was one of the primary ways (alongside newspapers) that adults stayed connected to the world. My house now is almost the complete opposite. The TV is only on when someone is actively...
2 months ago • 1 min read
Hi Reader, Summer is in full swing here. Pool days, grilled everything, and later bedtimes. I’m relishing all of it. Growing up in Florida, summer afternoons meant movies. Thunderstorms and brutal heat drove us to the local AMC almost every week for the latest blockbuster. Settling into a cold theater with my friends is one of my favorite childhood memories. That nostalgia hit hard this past weekend when we took my girls to see Toy Story 5. It was my 3-year old's first movie in a theater....
2 months ago • 3 min read
Hi Reader, Earlier this month at their developer's conference, Apple finally handed parents the controls we've been requesting for years. This fall, with iOS 27, you'll be able to approve every website your kid visits, every new contact they add, and exactly which apps live on their phone from day one. It's a real update. And there's a real catch. Here's what's new: When you set up a phone for your kid, you now choose exactly which apps they start with, instead of handing over a fully-loaded...
3 months ago • 2 min read