Screen Use and Dangerous Content

All this week we’re looking at the recent Surgeon General’s warning on the Harms of Screen Use in the lives of our children and teenagers. The report tells us that the content our kids see on their screens matters, and screen use is most likely to cause harm to children and adolescents when one or more of the following content features is present. First, the content is designed to increase use through features like rewards, which encourage daily play and prompt the algorithms fed to our kids. Second, some content promotes risky behaviors like self-harm, disordered eating, violent behavior, substance abuse, sexual practices, or viral social media challenges. Third, there’s the ever present danger of interaction with strangers and predators who use social media and gaming to exploit, abuse, traffic, and sextort our kids. Fourth, there’s the collection of data about our kids that is then used to manipulate the content they’re exposed to. Finally, there’s the danger of exposure to pornography.