When it comes to their children, many parents no longer trust technology companies. Social media corporations have spent the better part of the past decade arguing that their platforms are safe for teenagers, but a growing number of families and regulators remain unconvinced. Critics have increasingly accused companies like Meta of designing products that are intentionally addictive to younger users, while artificial intelligence firm OpenAI has faced numerous lawsuits alleging that its ChatGPT chatbot lacks necessary safety guardrails. At the same time, workers at leading AI companies have warned that their employers often prioritize corporate competition over safety.
While both social media and AI companies have denied these allegations and introduced various safety measures, such as parent-linked teen accounts, the public controversies have caused many parents to rethink allowing their children to use these technologies. When surveyed about whether their perspectives had shifted over the past year, the vast majority of responding parents stated they no longer wanted their children using social media and actively steered them away from AI.
Caroline Gray Ford, a 42-year-old parent from Cambridge, UK, expressed deep skepticism about handing children over to tech companies whose primary motivation is profit and data harvesting. Other parents share similar anxieties. Andy, a 43-year-old tech worker in London, noted the difficult balance of working in the AI industry while worrying about the future environment it creates for his children. While he feels compelled to encourage their familiarity with AI tools due to the changing world, he firmly keeps social media out of bounds, allowing only messaging apps to maintain real-world relationships.
Other parents have taken proactive steps to establish strict boundaries and open dialogues at home. Kate, a 47-year-old from Philadelphia, explained that international restrictions and major lawsuits have helped facilitate meaningful conversations with her 11-year-old daughter about the risks of social media. Her daughter is not permitted to use social media independently and only occasionally accesses AI tools through monitored search queries, with a strong emphasis on checking for hallucinations. Their household also avoids AI applications due to environmental concerns regarding energy and water consumption.
Meanwhile, some parents feel that schools and governments are failing to protect young people. An anonymous parent from the Scottish borders who works in AI voiced concern over the gap between marketing claims and actual risks, questioning whether schools introduce these technologies too early without sufficient parental consent or digital literacy training. Another anonymous parent from Kent expressed frustration over government inaction, choosing to campaign on the issue while completely banning social media and chatbots to protect children from potential mental health impacts and cognitive decline.