The Tech Radar for Parents

Intro — Three Stories, One Wednesday

Welcome to The Tech Radar for Parents. I'm your host, Weston, brought to you by Nicholas D. West Tech LLC. This is your briefing for the week of October fifth, twenty twenty six.

Quick note first. The show is shorter now, about twelve minutes. Same sourcing, fewer detours.

And this week, all three of our stories landed on the same day. Wednesday.

On Wednesday, Florida asked a judge to make Meta put two hour limits on teens right now, not after the lawsuit ends. That's the good.

On Wednesday, a watchdog group tested the teen version of ChatGPT and found that a kid could talk about self harm for an hour without a parent getting a single alert. That's the bad.

And on Wednesday, we learned New York is alleging that TikTok held a safety feature back from some users as an experiment, and that a teenager in that group died. That's the ugly, and it's the one I'll be most careful with.

This episode mentions suicide. If you or your child are struggling, call or text nine eight eight.

Let's go.

The Good — Florida Wants Meta's Limits Now

The good. Florida wants the rules now.

Last week I told you Alabama got TikTok to sign a list of changes. A two hour daily limit. Nothing between midnight and six. On Wednesday, Florida's Attorney General, James Uthmeier, went to court and asked for the same kind of list from Meta, the company behind Instagram and Facebook.

It's a motion for a temporary injunction. In plain English, that's asking a judge to order the changes now, while the lawsuit keeps going, instead of waiting years for a verdict.

Here's what Florida is asking for. Find and remove Florida users under fourteen, which Florida's twenty twenty four law already requires. Limit teens to two hours a day. Turn off autoplay and infinite scroll for teens. Stop late night notifications. And when a teen's time is up, cut off messaging too.

Why does this count as good news? Because of one line. Uthmeier said, quote, Meta already told America these kinds of changes are the new industry standard. Florida kids should not be last in line. End quote.

He's pointing at the national settlement Meta signed in August, which Florida refused to join. Meta's own deal made time caps normal. Now states are asking for them by name.

Meta's response was that restricting one platform just pushes teens to others, and that Florida should go after YouTube and TikTok instead. Meta called the motion meritless.

One caveat, and it matters. This is a request. No judge has ruled. No hearing date has been reported. So nothing has changed on your kid's phone yet. But the playbook is spreading, and two hours a day is becoming the number everyone is negotiating around.

The Bad — The Alarm That Didn't Ring

The bad. The alarm that didn't ring.

In August, OpenAI launched ChatGPT for Teens, a version for thirteen to seventeen year olds with parent controls. One of the selling points was that parents could link accounts and get alerted if their teen was in crisis.

On Wednesday, Common Sense Media published what happened when they tested it. More than four thousand prompts, on accounts set up as teens, reviewed by child psychiatrists and a pediatrician.

Here is the finding that matters. Testers spent up to an hour talking about suicidal thoughts, self harm, or disordered eating, on accounts linked to a parent. The parent accounts got zero alerts.

The group's director, Tom Siegel, put it this way. Quote, a teen can spend an hour talking about self harm without their parent getting a single alert. End quote.

There's more. ChatGPT missed more than one in four crisis referrals the testers said were warranted. And accounts registered as adults never switched to the teen version, even after the tester said, I'm thirteen, and the bot acknowledged it.

To be fair, some things held. It refused sexual role play, and it did not directly help with self harm.

OpenAI disputes the results. A spokesperson said the testing doesn't accurately reflect how the safeguards work in practice, and the company says its age prediction can take up to two weeks.

Common Sense is an advocacy group, and this is their testing, not a court finding. But their recommendation is blunt. Until it's fixed and proven, ChatGPT should be for adults only. And the takeaway for us is simpler. The alert is a backup. It is not the plan.

The Ugly — The Control Group

The ugly. The control group.

New York's Attorney General, Letitia James, is suing TikTok over harm to young users. This week, she added new allegations, using details that had been sealed from the public.

Here's what New York alleges. Starting in twenty twenty one, TikTok ran a test that touched about fifteen million American users. The company rolled out a new safety feature, but held it back from ten percent of users, to measure whether the feature cut down the time people spent on the app.

That's called an A B test. Some people get the new version, some people don't, and you compare. Companies do it constantly. The allegation here is that the thing being held back was a safety feature.

And according to the complaint, a teenager who was in the group that did not get the safety features later died by suicide.

In the amended lawsuit, James wrote that TikTok, quote, subjected users whom TikTok included in such A B tests to an experience that TikTok has made less safe by design. End quote.

Now, the careful part. These are allegations in a lawsuit. Nothing has been proven in court. The complaint does not say the test caused that child's death, and I'm not going to say it either. And the reporting doesn't name which safety feature it was.

TikTok confirmed it runs tests where part of its traffic keeps the original experience, but it denies those tests make the app less safe. Its statement says, like most companies, it regularly tests new features to see how they work in the real world.

Reuters also reported, from filings a judge unsealed, that in separate tests in twenty twenty three, some users got a version of TikTok's feed reset tool that didn't actually reset anything. A placebo.

Here's why this is the ugly. As parents, we turn on a setting and assume it's on. This case is about whether, for some kids, it ever was.

The Decoder Ring — Decoding the Headlines

Time for the decoder ring.

I looked for new slang this week with a real date and a real source behind it, and I came up empty. Undated listicles, and betting odds on word of the year. I'm not going to read you those.

So this week, we're decoding the headlines instead. Four terms that showed up in our stories.

A B test. A company shows version A to some users and version B to others, then measures which one wins. Totally normal for a button color. Not normal, New York says, for a safety feature.

Placebo feature. A setting that looks like it works but doesn't do anything. That's the allegation about TikTok's feed reset test.

Temporary injunction. A judge ordering something to happen now, while the lawsuit is still going. Florida asked for one. It hasn't been granted.

Age prediction. Instead of checking an I D, the app guesses your kid's age from how they use it. OpenAI says its guess can take up to two weeks. In the testing, an adult account that said I'm thirteen never switched over.

If your teen uses any of these words at dinner, you'll know what they mean. If they don't, now you can bring them up.

Your Weekly Action Plan (1–2)

Here's your action plan for the week. Four things.

Number one. If your kid uses ChatGPT, or any A I chatbot, ask them about it this week. Not a lecture. Just, what do you use it for?

Common Sense found earlier this year that more than four in ten kids say no parent has ever talked with them about A I safety. Be the parent who did. And say out loud the thing that matters most. If you're ever having a really hard time, I want you to come to me, not the chatbot.

Number two. Set the two hour limit yourself. Don't wait for Florida.

On an iPhone, it's Screen Time, then App Limits. On Android, it's Family Link. Pick the apps your kid lives in and set two hours a day, with nothing overnight. Instagram's supervision tools and TikTok's Family Pairing will also let you set limits from your own phone.

Your Weekly Action Plan (3–4)

Number three. Check that the settings you turned on are actually on.

This week's lesson is that a setting can exist without working. So open your kid's apps with them, and look. Is the time limit there? Does the sleep mode kick in? If you linked a parent account, are you actually getting the reports and notices it promised? If you've never gotten one, that's worth a second look.

Number four. Put nine eight eight in your phone, and in theirs.

The crisis line is call or text nine eight eight. Free, confidential, twenty four hours. Tell your kid it exists, and tell them they can use it even if they don't want to talk to you yet. An alert that doesn't fire can't help. A number they already know can.

Closing, This Week's Poll & Outro

Let's bring it home.

The good. Florida asked a judge to make Meta cap teens at two hours a day now. It's a request, not a ruling.

The bad. Common Sense tested ChatGPT for Teens, and parent alerts never came during an hour of self harm conversation. OpenAI disputes it.

The ugly. New York alleges TikTok held a safety feature back from some users as an experiment, and that a teen in that group died. TikTok denies the tests made anything less safe.

Two dates to watch. The judge in New Mexico says he'll rule on Meta's penalty by October twentieth. And the big Los Angeles trial against Meta, YouTube and Snap is still set for October twenty eighth.

What I did not check this week. Discord, Roblox, Snap and YouTube got only one quick search. No court dockets were pulled, and I didn't follow up on British Columbia's case against OpenAI or the Spokane breach.

Now, something new. This week's poll. Does your child use an A I chatbot like ChatGPT? Yes, and we've talked about it. Yes, but we haven't talked about it yet. No. Or, I'm not sure. Vote right in the Spotify app, or at n d w tech dot org slash tech radar slash polls. I'll share the results next week.

If you or your child are struggling, call or text nine eight eight. Free, confidential, twenty four hours.

If this was useful, please like and subscribe. And if you have another thirty seconds, leave a review. Reviews are free, and they're genuinely what keeps this show going and keeps it free for parents. Share it with another parent who needs it.

I'm your host, Weston, with Nicholas D. West Tech LLC. Stay vigilant, stay informed, and I'll see you next week.