Children and Media

Today’s teenagers are more digitally connected than ever. Most have access to smartphones and use social media, and nearly half say they are online almost constantly. But how are young people navigating this “always on” environment? To better understand their experiences, we surveyed both teens and parents on a range of screen time-related topics. Our questions explored the emotions teens tie to their devices, the impact of smartphones on youth, and the challenges parents face when raising children in the digital age. Key findings from the survey include:

The Federal Communications Commission is poised to raise taxes through its Universal Service Fund—a regressive, hidden tax on consumers' phone bills that funds a series of unaccountable, bloated internet subsidy programs. Rather than giving the FCC carte blanche to expand its balance sheet, Congress must reform the USF's structural problems, reevaluate its component programs, and get the FCC's spending under control. Here is my plan to do that. 

The other day some preschoolers were pretending to be one of their favorite Sesame Street characters, a baby goat named Ma’zooza who likes round things. They played with tomatoes—counting up to five, hiding one, and putting it back. A totally ordinary moment exploring shapes, numbers, and imagination.

For Gen Z, catching up on the news is often a side effect of time spent on social media apps like Instagram and, in particular, TikTok—and media outlets are adapting to serve that behavior. "Gen Z is being fed the news whether they want it or not," Stephanie Kaplan Lewis, CEO of the college-aged media portfolio Her Campus Media, tells Axios, noting that Gen Z news consumers are less likely than Millennials to visit trusted news sources directly. 

As government officials increasingly scrutinize how digital platforms may harm kids, a growing number of states are proposing sweeping restrictions to limit their access to social media. But a top federal enforcer active on kids’ safety issues said that he opposes such limits, arguing they are unlikely to work and may run afoul of the Constitution. “Meet a teenager, they will find a way to get around that,” said Federal Trade Commissioner Alvaro Bedoya.

Heavy use of social media among adolescents and pre-teens can lead to several poor health outcomes, ranging from unhealthy sleeping patterns and low self-esteem to greater exposure to cyberbullying. Although these are concerns for all parents, the Latino community is particularly vulnerable to mental health challenges as a result of social media use. This led the Omidy

In January 2024, the US Department of Education’s Office of Educational Technology released the 2024 National Educational Technology Plan (NETP): A Call to Action for Closing the Digital Access, Design, and Use Divides. The NETP examines how technologies can raise the bar for all elementary and secondary students.

Senators of both parties are focusing their criticism on a law that Congress passed in 1996—a law that paved the way for social media as we know it. That law, said Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL), “needs to change.” The statute in question is Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which gives online service providers broad immunity from lawsuits over their users’ posts, with the goal of promoting free expression online. Over the years, it has survived court challenges, legislative pushes, and an executive order by President Donald Trump. Now, it is in Congress’s sights once again.

CEO's from Meta, Snap, X, TikTok, and Discord testified in a contentious and emotional Senate hearing on child online safety. Lawmakers invoked the stories of online child abuse victims—many of whom sat directly behind the tech leaders—to issue a stunning rebuke to Meta's Mark Zuckerberg and other executives.

During the fourth quarter 2023, the top three wireless operators in the US reported a total of 1.78 million new postpaid phone subscribers. How can each carrier report growth in postpaid phone subscribers each quarter in a country whose population is not growing very much? Recon Analytics Analyst Roger Entner said that question is top-of-mind among the operators, who pay Recon substantial sums of money for survey data to try and figure out the answers.