"Parents need to know that when children go online, they are entering a world of influencers, many of whom are hoping to make money by pushing dangerous products."
I will never forget the moment when I realized that something was up with my son's phone. Turning into the garage after picking him up from school, I was riffing yet again on how terrible social media is for kids. Rant over, I waited for Kian, then a high school freshman, to launch once again into his equally vibrant defense of teenage phone freedom. This time was different. "The social-media companies should be regulated," he said quietly, exiting our car. My stomach dropped. What could be so bad that it would lead my 15-year-old to actually agree with me? That day led to a series of conversations that slowly opened my eyes to a universe I didn't know existed: a universe of influencers who are hoping to make money by pushing dangerous products. Emily Dreyfuss, director of the News Lab program at Harvard's Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy, who has studied media manipulation and memes for the past three years, takes us into the absurd world where social media influencers celebrate consumption of nicotine, which is highly addictive to kids, and where regulators always seem to be a step behind. Years after Juul showed the power of influencers to help addict children — and despite many rules forbidding tobacco advertising to minors — kids were watching videos from an influencer who once portrayed being a sixth-grader who needs a jolt of nicotine to perform in a spelling bee. The tale Emily tells in her Times Opinion essay is so incredible that I'm only now getting to the fact that Tucker Carlson, the ex-Fox News megastar, appears to be an enthusiastic influencer of a nicotine pouch.
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Saturday, January 13, 2024
Opinion Today: Our kids are living in a different digital world
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