Kids These Days

IRL: Online Life is Real Life

Today’s teens are the first humans who have spent their entire lives online. Join Veronica Belmont and Manoush Zomorodi as they explore what kids are facing on the interwebs, how they’re using social media for good, how they’re handling cyberbullying, and how parents can keep up.

Parkland, Florida’s Cameron Kasky discusses how he uses social media as a platform for activism; tech journalist Alexandra Samuel talks about Lil Tay and and the the role parents can play as they help their children navigate the internet; and Common Sense Media's Sierra Filucci gives us an exclusive look at data from a new study about technology's impact on our youth.

IRL is an original podcast from Mozilla. For more on the series go to irlpodcast.org.

Manoush Zomorodi is the co-host of ZigZag, a podcast about changing the course of capitalism, journalism, and women’s lives. She's also the author of Bored an Brilliant: How Spacing Out Can Unlock Your Most Productive and Creative Self.

Cameron Kasky is a co-founder of March For Our Lives. Use your vote. If you live in the U.S., here are are some resources to help you register.

Jeff Kasky is the President of Families vs. Assault Rifles, a political action committee founded by parents of Parkland, Florida Douglas High students working to restrict access to assault rifles.

For a detailed summary of Common Sense Media’s findings on technology and teens, check out this summary of their Social Media, Social Life study. Also, check out this commentary from Common Sense about supporting research on tech's impact on the health and well-being of kids.

There are a number of Firefox extensions that can help parents guide their children's internet experiences, such as Parental Control: Family Friendly Filter, which blocks certain websites deemed inappropriate for kids. You can find this extension and more in our Parental Controls collection.

Finally, here’s a short film by Darren Pasemko and Mozilla’s Brett Gaylor demonstrating just how much technology has come into family life.

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