This week, we talk to the experts about teens' use of social media. Guest Jen Hanley, Head of North American Safety at Meta, joins us to talk about some of the tools and initiatives Facebook and Instagram are taking to protect your children. Further resources can be found at familycenter.meta.com.

Also this week – our take on Next Level Pinball, the United States second largest arcade and cathedral of pop culture.

William Sikkens, Bill Snodgrass, Gretchen Winkler

Welcome to User Friendly 2.0

2

with host Bill

Sikkens, Technology architect.

3

And this is user Friendly 2.0.

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As always, I am your host Bill sickens

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and it's always joining me

my co-host Gretchen.

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Bill, welcome to week 21.

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Hello 2026.

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Actually, it's week 20. Great,

a special edition.

9

I was looking at the episode number,

but we have one extra one

10

in, so it's actually week

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That still seems like it's

going by awfully fast.

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It's going by very fast.

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Yeah, well, well, this week we've got some

interesting things coming up.

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Our second segment,

we have a guest from Mehta.

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Mehta, of course, is the company

that runs Facebook and Instagram

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and a number of other social media

platforms.

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They also make the VR headset

that we have, the Oculus,

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which I still really like.

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So, you know, it's it's a company

that does a lot of different things.

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And the person that's joining us runs

the part of Mehta

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that handles online safety and security.

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And she's going to be talking with us

a little bit about what Mehta is doing.

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On addressing the problems

that children face on social media.

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And it's interesting,

and I will just say this,

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that it seems like

they are taking it seriously.

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And that's a good thing, because this is

one of the biggest concerns

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that parents have, and it's one

that is rightfully so.

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So we're going to be doing the interview,

and then we're going to dive into

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some of the statistics

dealing with social media

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and just things to be aware of,

because there's also a very positive side

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of this stuff.

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It isn't like it's all bad, but like

anything else, it's important for parents

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to watch what their kids are doing

and just be aware.

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Anyway, that's coming up next week.

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We are going to be diving into Right

to Repair.

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This is a question

that a lot of you have been sending in.

37

So we're going to give an update

on where this is at

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or anybody

that doesn't know right to repair us.

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The idea that you're allowed to repair

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your own things

that you purchase, like a car or tractors,

41

which seems to be one of the biggest areas

that this is a problem and the companies

42

would prefer it

that you use them, pay them to do repairs.

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And with some of this, they're making it

where you can't get service data,

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you can't get tools that kind of a thing.

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And this has been challenged

in recent years

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and different states

are doing different things.

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But we will be delivering an update.

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So that'll be coming up next week.

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So what do we have in the news.

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Well Amazon introduces 30 minute delivery

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I remember when we had that with pizzas

you know.

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But yeah I'm having a hard time

seeing that working.

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So tell us about this.

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Is it like only in specific areas.

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Yeah it's only in specific areas.

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The idea is Amazon is reworking

some of what they're doing.

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And we're going to be talking

in a new headline a little bit later on.

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Some other stuff on the way you purchase

things is also changing a little bit.

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So it's kind of a company wide thing

to be able to experiment

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and do some things with this

and what they are doing.

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The goal is to shift from fast

shipping to almost instant retail.

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So the idea being that it really is

just order it.

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It's going to be there faster than you

could get to a local store and buy it.

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That kind of an idea.

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And it's part of a larger battle

with retailers like Walmart,

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target, food delivery services

like DoorDash,

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that kind of a thing,

and allowing them to be able to compete.

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Now, Gretchen, as you pointed out,

this is something that is not going to be

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in every market, probably ever, but

certainly not in the foreseeable future.

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It is also something that only covers

specific kinds of products.

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So where are we seeing it right now?

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Right now

it is widely available in Seattle,

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Philadelphia, Atlanta

and the Dallas-Fort worth area.

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They're going to be expanding

into Austin, Houston, Denver,

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Phoenix, Minneapolis, Orlando

and Oklahoma City in the near future.

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Here. That's via Amazon News.

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And they also are experimenting

with this internationally India,

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the United Kingdom, Brazil, Mexico, Japan

and the UAE.

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Okay.

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So so how are they delivering it?

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Does it explain that.

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Yeah, it's going to be the same system

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that they're using now,

which is either gig drivers

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or like a DoorDash

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type thing

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where somebody gets the order,

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picks it up and brings it

to wherever it's going to go.

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They're doing it in the larger markets

because they have to be close

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to their distribution warehouses

in order for this to work.

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It can't be shipped from somewhere else.

Right.

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And the idea being that the system

they'll have in place for the products

92

that are available, as you will order it,

the order will go to the local location,

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the product will be there,

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and it's literally given to a driver

that takes it to you.

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At that point,

that's the only way that would work.

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Now, the other thing

that they're talking about here

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is that they're still experimenting

with the idea of drone delivery.

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Okay. About that.

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Yeah, it's still in the works.

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And that's still something

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that I think it would be kind of cool

if they could do it.

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But there's a lot of problems with that.

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People stealing the drones, among other

things that they would have to deal with.

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Let's see how they work it out.

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Maybe they will,

but it is going to be interesting

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to see, you know,

what actually comes out of this.

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Now, what is this focus going to be on?

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Household essentials,

electronic accessories,

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snacks and groceries,

pharmacy items and impulse purchases.

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Impulse purchases

make some of the most money for stores.

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That's all the stuff by the cash

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register that you didn't come to buy,

but you grab because it's there,

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and I could see where they'd want to

get in on the, you know, get in on that.

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PlayStation six.

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What we know.

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Yeah.

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So PlayStation

five has been out for a while now.

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I still don't have one.

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And the reason for

that is when they came out,

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if people may remember,

they were impossible to find,

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and then when you could finally get them

three years later, it's like,

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well, it's three year old technology now.

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And I just it never came into being.

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Plus I do most of my gaming on my PC

anyway, but that's me.

125

A lot of people do enjoy the console

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still, and PlayStation

five has been a success.

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And you know,

they had some stuff launching it

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and that kind of a thing,

129

So if you look at the history of this,

PlayStation

130

three came out in 2006,

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So that makes an average of every 6 to 7

years.

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So 2027,

which is next year would make sense

133

that we're going to start seeing this.

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So what are they talking about.

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There's

still a lot of things in development.

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So there's a lot of questions

that don't have specific answers to it.

137

But one of the things is and I think

this is very smart on Sony's end, is

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they're keeping backward

compatibility to the PS4

139

so that your existing game

library will still work.

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There is some debate

141

on whether they're going to be able

to still use physical media or not.

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I would think with Sony, they're

probably going to have that as an option

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like they do now.

You can buy one with or without.

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One of the things,

and one of the things that Nintendo

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has figured out with the switch to

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is that you can have backward

compatibility all you want,

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but if there's no port on the unit

to be able to put in the software

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from the previous

version, it's not backward compatible.

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It might run the program,

but so what if it can't talk to the media,

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you know, so it's in there in case

it's specifically backward compatible

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to anything that you got

electronically delivered,

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they may have come up with a way

to swap in the cartridges, I don't know.

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But the point of it is, is having that

would be in the in their best interest.

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Now, one of the things on

this is the leap in graphics.

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They're working on something

very special for this.

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It sounds like they're talking about

eight times the performance of the PS5.

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Okay, that would be impressive.

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I think that are ray tracing.

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They also want to build in

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AI for doing upscaling

and that kind of thing, you know.

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So on launch

they're talking about a standard PS six,

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a premium high end model of some kind,

and a handheld device

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that would run the same software

that you have on your PlayStation.

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So basically a portable version of think

like switch.

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Yeah. Okay.

166

So Steam Deck,

you know, that kind of a thing.

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So I still think that going forward

we may not be seeing too many more

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consoles.

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Next generation Xbox may or may not

even be coming out with another console.

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And if they do,

it might be something very different.

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So this idea, you know, the question of it

is, is what are the downsides to this?

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Well,

one of them is, is memory is expensive.

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And because of what's going on with that,

they're talking about a possible

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retail price of around $1,000

for the console when it comes out.

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Now, whether or not that will be the case

and if memory prices come back down,

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that will help.

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But memory is going to the

AI data centers, and it's affecting

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even the big guys like Sony

in a way that it's causing, you know,

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the prices of these things

to, you know, to really go up and rise.

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So in any event, it'll be interesting

to see where this goes.

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And we're going to be keeping on top

of this because it's just a cool thing.

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But at $1,000, is it just a lockdown PC?

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And if it is, doesn't make sense to

still do the console or just put a PC in?

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I know there's exclusives and stuff

on the games, but at the end of the day

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going forward.

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You know what makes more sense?

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There was a time

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that your desktop computer was way

more expensive than your game console,

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and those days have passed.

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In fact, the purchase price of a PS5

you can buy an entry level

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laptop for less than the PS5 cost

when it came out.

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So you know, something interesting

to look at there.

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All right.

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Amazon ditches Rufus chatbot launches

Alexa shopping

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agent in AI Strategy Pivot

I bet I can tell you what happened.

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I have an idea.

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Rufus

got sick of pitching things and quit.

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Oh, well,

yeah, I'd get tired of that, too.

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Yeah.

200

Whatever the case is, is again,

we've talked about it

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at the top about the 30 minute delivery

is that Amazon's making some changes.

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This is another part of it

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that they're reworking the AI strategy

that they're using.

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And yes, it sounds like

Alexa is going to be taking over for

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describing products

and that kind of a thing.

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And this would be the new Alexa probably.

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But again, at the end of the day,

we were talking about

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before we even started recording.

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Bill, you had brought this up

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that some of the stuff

you've had with Rufus,

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why don't you tell us a little bit

about what you ran into?

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Well, I just opened up Amazon and half

the screen would be taken up by Rufus

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apparently trying to sell me something

or just being there.

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Just a big blank open areas at AI.

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Rufus, I believe it said. Yeah, yeah.

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So some of the things

and I don't think they made the model

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in a way

that it could actually get information

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from outside of the system,

or if it did, it was very limited.

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So it's like what it would do is search

the description that had been provided.

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And if it wasn't in the description,

which, you know, I could read that too.

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So I can see why

they would want to make some changes here,

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maybe do something that actually

has access to appropriate information.

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And it would help if the new Alexa

actually delivered correct answers

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all the time.

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So maybe work that out too

and make all this.

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And I know, Gretchen,

you've run into that one.

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It was really strange.

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I kept asking her about the weather

in a certain place

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where I was going to go,

and she kept telling me

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about a completely different place,

and I asked her three times,

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and then I finally told her, I'm sorry,

but you're telling me the wrong thing.

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And she just got really quiet, like,

you know, you have that image

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of the woman who's going home

and then storming out of the room.

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So I kind of felt like.

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Well, Autodesk's

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free new tool offers

an easy way into 3D modeling.

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Yeah, and this is kind of cool

what they're going on with.

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It's called Project Falcon.

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So just a little bit of background on it.

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Autodesk

is kind of the go to name for CAD.

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So AutoCAD obviously is a program.

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They've put out some of the other things

like Maya 3DS Max.

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What was a designer

back in the day direction that you use.

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These were all things that went along

with with kind of the place to go.

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But the one problem is,

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is that number one, getting started with

it is extremely expensive.

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It is not cheap software

by any stretch of the imagination.

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Inexpensive, but it's good stuff,

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which is why.

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And usually it's used in a professional

market where they can afford such things.

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But that does create a barrier to entry

if you want to learn it.

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There's academic versions

and things you can get, but still it is

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inexpensive piece of software.

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And then the second part of it is,

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is that access to being able

to figure out how it works,

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because if you open up AutoCAD

and don't know what you're doing,

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you've got a dot on the screen

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with a grid and a whole bunch of menus

that don't make a lot of sense.

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That's why you buy a book

that goes with it.

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Yeah, yeah, you could, but

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it's a piece of software

that does require training really to use.

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Right. And it's either something.

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So these are some of the things that

they're trying to eliminate with this fix.

264

And Project Falcon's

going to be interesting.

265

We're going to give it a try.

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And you know the direction

these things are going are kind of cool.

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My brother is into 3D printing.

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And I just bring this up as an example

because with these kind of modeling tools,

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he actually can scan something

or even take a photo,

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send it to the appropriate

AI and get the model back.

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And being able to use these kind of tools

in that way, I think is a positive

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use of AI,

because it makes it a lot easier

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to do things and get parts

that maybe are no longer made.

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We're what is that skee ball machine

that comes from the cheese era?

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They don't make the parts for it anymore,

but we want to restore it

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and this is a way to do it.

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So let us know if you use Autodesk

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software or if you are thinking

about getting involved in it.

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And try Falcon

soon as your experience on it.

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I'd love to hear about it,

because if this does

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what it purports to do,

it could be really a good tool.

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All right,

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fake OpenAI repository on hugging

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face pushes info stealer malware.

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This just sounds awful. Why?

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Don't know if I need to cover anything.

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I mean, that headline says it all

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sounds bad.

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I don't know, but.

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All right, so let's start.

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Hugging face is a leading open source

AI platform

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and community, often described

as the GitHub of machine learning.

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And yes,

I did read that off their website.

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And what it is, is it's basically

the ability to store, share and deploy

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AI models.

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There's different things

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that are like that on the market,

and this is one of the leading ones.

298

So kind of a strange name,

but that's basically what it does.

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So what's basically happened here

is that a fake

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OpenAI repository started trending okay.

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So OpenAI is where you would get the tools

to be able to interface

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with something like ChatGPT.

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Well, a fake version of that

certainly wouldn't be interfacing

304

with the real software, the real eyes

and starts delivering information

305

and malware and all kinds of other stuff

that's designed to do bad things.

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So that's why this is a problem info

stealer,

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malware being the key of what

they're trying to get out right now.

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But it's like the idea that if that's done

right, the bad guys have a way

309

to where your site can be secured

and all the stuff's done.

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But because more and more developing

software uses third party components,

311

in fact it would be almost impossible

to do something from end to end

312

financially without that.

313

In certain situations,

314

you have a situation

315

that if somebody can get something fake

into that stream and it goes wide

316

enough, it won't be picked up

on your system security,

317

and it can cause all kinds of problems

and is causing all kinds of problems.

318

Well, in lighter

319

dews, a small organ town

puts on a big UFO festival.

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And why it's worth a visit.

321

Yes, and when this airs,

we will have just finished going to.

322

It is in the city of McMinnville, Oregon.

323

We've been doing a couple of times,

and I don't know, Gretchen,

324

why don't you talk about this

a little bit? It's really kind of cool.

325

It's it has two levels.

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It's the the fun party aspect.

327

And then there is the serious UFO people.

328

So you have two different levels.

329

You can,

you know, interact in either of or both.

330

And they have like a kind of

a campy parade where everybody dresses up.

331

And it also gives, like the local kids

332

a chance to play in March in a parade,

which is kind of neat.

333

And it's it's just kind of a fun event.

334

Yeah, it's pretty good natured. Yeah.

335

What did you think of it?

336

Oh, I basically the same opinion.

337

It's free

to attend as very family friendly.

338

So it's something you can do

without dropping a bunch of cash to,

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which is nice,

especially in this day and age.

340

And downtown Danville

is kind of a really cool downtown.

341

It's very old field kind of shops

342

and different things and restaurants

and all of that kind of stuff.

343

It's very walkable

344

and there's a great deal of variance,

including a really cool arcade.

345

So it offers a lot

for basically different things.

346

I'm trying to think,

what else is there's an antique store.

347

There's several restaurants.

348

Yeah, there was a really cool art store,

and then they moved,

349

and now I got to

figure out where they're at.

350

That wouldn't be downtown,

351

but there's still a lot of stuff there

that is worth checking out and visiting.

352

There's art galleries, all that

kind of stuff, so it'll be a lot of fun.

353

We'll talk about it

354

and let you know how the event actually

went on the next episode,

355

because we always have fun with this,

and it's a topic we're visiting.

356

If you are in Oregon and are going to be

in the McMinnville area, well, today,

357

yeah, it's worth checking out,

but it definitely is is a neat event.

358

All right.

359

Pentagon,

speaking of UFOs, Pentagon releases

360

first batch of previously secret files

361

documenting reports of UFOs.

362

Yeah, so this was promised

363

and is starting to be made into a thing

that's happening.

364

And they're saying it's

the first of many files

365

that are going to come out

with these cover primarily are things of

366

UFOs seen in the sky,

things that can't be explained.

367

Buzz Aldrin even talks about some stuff

he saw on the moon,

368

which is kind of interesting.

369

So the idea is, is that here's

370

the information, read it

and make up your own opinion.

371

And I am just ready

for all of the interesting

372

YouTube videos

that are going to come out of this.

373

There's already some strange

374

stuff out there, and.

375

We might have to do another YouTube

episode.

376

Oh, okay.

377

So anyway, but yeah, so that's happening.

378

And actually,

I think in a way it's a good thing

379

to have access to the information

that is really out there.

380

You can find it on a new Defense

Department website that lists

381

all of these things and will supposedly

be pushing more information out.

382

So, you know, we'll see what it is.

383

And I'm going to go through it

384

a little bit and find out,

you know, where the UFOs are being stored.

385

I'm led to understand it's not area 51.

386

So, you know,

hopefully some say, yeah, pass.

387

And here in Oregon

it'd be a long drive with gas prices.

388

Hopefully it's you know here in Oregon

that'd be kind of cool.

389

Yeah.

390

You know

go take it out and fly it a little bit.

391

And I promise I won't crash it in Roswell.

392

We'll crash it more else. But you know.

393

And they probably wouldn't let me do that.

394

All right.

395

Anyway,

back onto a much more serious topic.

396

We talked about

going to a really big arcade.

397

Oh, yeah.

398

So that was fun.

399

Yeah. Pinball museum.

400

Am I getting the name of that right?

I can never remember.

401

I want to call it legends.

I know that's not yet next level.

402

Next level. Yeah.

403

And it is amazing.

404

Now, this is another thing I will say.

405

If you are in Oregon

and get by the location,

406

it's worth checking out their business

model as you pay.

407

I think it was $24,

something like that to get in

408

and it's all day admission

so you can play everything.

409

It's like a pop culture museum.

410

Yeah, it really is.

411

It's the second largest arcade

in the United States,

412

according to them, and is been voted

the best.

413

And I could understand why.

414

Because you get in there and it's just

amazing the way they have it set up.

415

There's loads of pinball and video

games, new, old, all that kind of stuff.

416

But Gretchen, talk about the pop culture

417

a little bit like the lunchboxes,

because that was another

418

I mean, there are walls of lunchboxes

and action figures.

419

And do you remember those weird

little troll dolls?

420

You know, those things?

421

And, somebody said

there were Furbies in there.

422

I there were so many things.

423

I don't remember it all.

424

It was like, definitely sensory overload.

425

That's one thing to be prepared for,

but you're free to go outside

426

and come back in.

427

So it's not like

you can't take a break when you need to.

428

And they had some food on site, the

what I call roach coaches,

429

although some of them are very good,

so I don't mean that as a insult.

430

Some of them are roach coaches though.

431

But in this particular case you had pizza

and hot dogs and things like that,

432

and there are restaurants nearby

if you want a more formal sit down meal.

433

So you could go in, go morning, go to

lunch, come back and check everything out.

434

And I know that I've whined about this

in the past, but for the past year now,

435

I've been working on trying to fix a motor

436

dome pinball machine,

and as of right now, it's not fixed.

437

I'm sure it's ancient aliens.

438

It's not that I don't know how to do it

or anything like that.

439

Oh, okay. Yeah.

440

Talk to the History Channel and,

you know, we'll make sure that's the case.

441

Knowing my luck, I'll walk in there

and it'll be three aliens playing it.

442

Well, we fixed it.

443

I mean, after the human. Yeah.

444

But they actually had that.

445

It was kind of cool to see

how it was actually supposed to work.

446

That will help in repairing it,

but they had just a ton of stuff.

447

And I'm just I'm sure everybody that's

listens

448

knows into a lot of the more retro things.

449

So there was rampage,

which was always a favorite game of mine.

450

They had that.

451

They had just,

452

I don't know, like a different Star Wars

games that I thought were fun.

453

You said that I was really good

at one of the shooter games.

454

What was that called again?

455

That was called Halo.

456

Fireteam Raven, Halo three.

457

That was fun.

458

That was a lot.

459

Yeah, I like Halo.

460

It's a game that has always been

461

you get to wear a mix suit

and kill things, you know? That's cool.

462

But in any event, I'm sure we're going

to get a lot of comments on that one.

463

But in any event, it was definitely

something very worth checking out.

464

Obviously, as family friendly,

you can get in there and the kids can go

465

in a safe environment

and be able to check different things out.

466

New world I also noticed there was

there was always a guy

467

running around with a cloth

and a bottle of cleaner.

468

So they are constantly like cleaning,

cleaning the games.

469

So if you're somebody who's worried

about getting sick from all these people

470

touching these things,

they are working on that.

471

Yeah, they're keeping it maintained.

472

And the other thing of it

is, is keeping things repaired.

473

And after

working on some of these cabinets

474

a little bit,

I can only imagine what goes into that.

475

You know, it just I in they do a good job.

476

So definitely worth checking out.

All right.

477

This is user friendly 2.0.

478

We're going to talk about social media.

479

When we come back to liberated

480

from the future.

481

He's got a really big computer

482

and he uses it uses it every day.

483

And he uses it uses it in every way.

484

What do you do for you know,

I'm not sure because it uses here.

485

Welcome back.

486

This is user friendly 2.0.

487

Check out user friendly dot show.

488

It is your one stop for all things

user friendly, past episodes, questions

489

and comments, and even a shop

where we have, well, Cyber Hawk available.

490

If that's not a reason to stop there,

491

there's some Stem kits

and anything that you buy on Amazon.

492

After you click to it through our website,

we get a little bit of Jeff Bezos money.

493

So if for no other reason,

that's a good reason to check it out.

494

Social media isn't inherently good or bad.

495

It's powerful, and like any powerful

technology, the impact depends on how

496

it's designed, how it's used,

and whether families understand the risks.

497

Joining us now, Jen Henley,

North American safety at meta.

498

Of course, the group

that runs Facebook and Instagram,

499

among other things, it's

going to talk about some of the things

500

they're doing to help with your children's

security online.

501

Joining us now, Jen Hanley,

head of North American safety with meta.

502

Welcome to User Friendly.

503

Thank you so much for having me today.

504

So let's just dive in.

505

We got some questions for you today.

506

And the first one is what is the new age

assurance technology being announced

507

and what problem is it designed to solve.

508

Yes. So in order to use Facebook

or Instagram

509

you need to be over the age of 13.

510

For many, many years

we have been working to find

511

and remove accounts

that belong to those who are under 13.

512

And what we're announcing today

is that we are strengthening

513

our enforcement efforts

514

by using advancements in technology,

and particularly artificial intelligence,

515

to help us identify

those accounts that belong to people

516

who are under the age of 13,

so we can deactivate them and remove them.

517

And so we're really excited about what

we've been able to build out using AI.

518

We now are going to be able to go beyond

just looking at things like admission of,

519

I'm 12 years old and instead

looking at more information, putting clues

520

together across our platforms, across

someone's profile.

521

This is going to expand to Instagram

Reels, Instagram Live, Facebook groups,

522

looking at bios and comments and captions

and other sources of information

523

to really help find those those clues

that someone might be under 13.

524

And then if that's the case,

their account would get deactivated.

525

They'd have to prove their over 13

and belong there, or they would no longer

526

have an account with us.

527

So we're

528

really excited about what we've been able

to do with developing this technology.

529

How do platforms

530

estimate a user's age while limiting

531

unnecessary data collection?

532

So what we're doing when it comes

to finding out if someone's underage,

533

if they're under the age of 13,

we're looking at those signals.

534

We're looking

535

at publicly available information

that they might be posting or sharing.

536

We are adding visual clues, for example,

to some of this technology

537

that we're using.

538

We're not matching you

with your facial recognition to who

539

you are as a person,

but we're able to have systems

540

that are looking at things

like bone structure or height.

541

So that might indicate someone's a child

542

and not an adult

if they've put an adult birthday in.

543

When it comes to understanding

if someone's an adult versus a teen.

544

We're able to look at signals

like how long they accounts been open

545

or who they're interacting with are

they're their friends, mostly teens.

546

Are they looking at

mostly teen content, for example?

547

So those are some of the ways

that we're balancing privacy and safety

548

to make sure we can use these advancements

and really help put people either

549

in the right experiences

on our platforms or remove them entirely.

550

So teen accounts were

551

introduced in 2024

and expanded to more users globally.

552

How do those settings work and how does

this new technology relate to them?

553

Yeah, so teen accounts were really

a wonderful change that we made

554

to Instagram.

555

And then we rolled them out

to Facebook and Messenger following that.

556

And they are default safeguards for teens.

557

These are built in protections.

558

If you're under the age of 18

they're automatically applied.

559

And if you're under 16,

560

you actually need your parents permission

to change out of these settings.

561

The safeguards

include things like privacy by default,

562

we have messaging restrictions, time

limitations, and even entirely new age

563

appropriate content experience

that we unveiled last year.

564

So it's really important

for us to know someone's a teen

565

so they can be

put into these default experiences.

566

So teens may misrepresent their age.

567

They might lie and pretend

568

that they're over the age of 18

and have put in a different birth date.

569

And that's where our technology helps.

570

So today, what we're doing,

we started this with Instagram

571

and now we're doing it with Facebook

as well.

572

We're using some of our technology

to really help us detect

573

whether someone is an adult or a teen.

574

And if they've been misrepresenting

their age,

575

we're putting them into

some of the teen account settings.

576

So that way they're getting some of those

safeguards applied as well.

577

You kind of hit on this a minute ago,

but I'm going to deep dive into this

578

just a little bit more,

579

because some parents worry teams

may represent their age online.

580

I'm sure that never happens.

581

But, you know, just

they might worry about it.

582

How do platforms try to identify accounts

where the age may not be accurate?

583

You talked a little bit about the looking

at the pictures and that kind of a thing.

584

And then the other part of this is

what is the latest expansion of your 13

585

plus movie ratings.

586

Yeah.

587

So so first of all, using that technology

to really help us

588

get a better understanding of, of age

so that we can put

589

teens into the teen account experience

if we, you know,

590

suspect that they're that they're teens

and have been misrepresenting their age.

591

There's also stuff we're doing for parents

who might be concerned about, you know,

592

if their teens are misrepresenting age

or just need to know more.

593

We're actually going to be sending

594

notifications, educational information

to parents about the importance

595

of understanding age online,

how to talk to their teen about it.

596

Because, again,

597

the teens get really beneficial safeguards

by being in teen accounts.

598

And we've also made it even easier to

report underage accounts to us as well.

599

So there's a lot we're doing.

600

We're taking this

multi-layered approach to age.

601

And then when it comes to the content

experience, that's another reason

602

why we really want to make sure

someone's a teen.

603

So last year we revamped

the content experience for Instagram.

604

And we we put them into more limited

content experience.

605

It's meant to be age appropriate, really,

based on the same idea

606

of what parents have come to expect

from television and movie ratings.

607

And then we also surveyed

and talked to parents around the globe.

608

We had them rating content

609

telling us that they thought

it was appropriate for teenagers or not.

610

So this new restricted experience

for teens, it really filters stuff out.

611

It restricts some of what they're seeing,

taking away things like working to remove

612

risky stunts or certain curse words,

or just other content

613

that that may be not appropriate

for their age range.

614

And for parents who want to do even more,

we actually have an even more limited

615

content feature that parents can select

if they're using supervision.

616

So there's a lot

617

we've done to make to make big changes

for the Instagram content experience.

618

So what role might

619

governments

and the broader technology ecosystem

620

play in age verification?

621

Yes. So, you know, there's so much

I've been talking about

622

that we're doing to understand age.

623

And again, the importance of putting teens

into those age appropriate experiences.

624

But we're one of so many different

platforms that are out there.

625

This is, you know, a really complex

industry wide issue.

626

Everyone's trying to figure out

age and understanding age and knowing

627

age is also an important framework

for governments

628

as they as they think about legislation

when it comes to online safety.

629

And so we really think that governments

should legislate to have age

630

verification and parental approval

at the App Store level.

631

So that really creates

one centralized place for parents

632

so they can put that age information

in there.

633

They can verify the age of their child,

and they can say yes or no before

634

their teen wants to download an app so

they know the apps their teens are using.

635

So we think that's an important role

that government really should be working

636

towards age verification and parental

approval at the App Store level.

637

Okay, so where can we go to learn more?

638

Yeah, so you can learn more about our age

announcements,

639

as well as our teen accounts and parental

supervision at Meta's family center.

640

It's family center.

641

Metacomet.

642

All right, well, listen,

thank you so much.

643

You know, our listeners,

we always get questions about this.

644

And it is a huge concern among parents,

and rightfully so.

645

It is so good to know

that meta is actually not only taking it

646

seriously, which I know you do,

but also coming up with some

647

what seemed to be very innovative

ways of helping to at least address,

648

if not solve these problems.

649

Thank you so much for joining us today.

650

Thanks for having me.

651

And I think some of these things

are very innovative.

652

For many kids, social media is no longer

just entertainment.

653

It's part of their social identity.

654

And this is part of the reason

why it is so important

655

to know what your children are doing

online.

656

I'm going

to give you some statistics on this,

657

and I'm going to talk

a little bit about it.

658

But it is interesting

to see the penetration that this has.

659

Up to 95% of teens ages

13 to 17 report using social media. 95%.

660

That's like almost there a lot.

661

Yeah, about one third of teens say

that they are in line almost constantly.

662

YouTube, TikTok, Instagram and Snapchat

dominate team usage TikTok and short

663

term video have fundamentally changed

attention spans and media habits.

664

And boy, is that true.

665

I think we've seen this kind

of across the board.

666

Gretchen, I know you've talked to people

about the attention span thing.

667

Yeah, it was something that showed up

when I was originally considering

668

becoming a school teacher.

669

And so what you would do is

you would mentor with other teachers.

670

And I had a middle school teacher

who told me that children's attention

671

spans had changed through the years

due to the commercials.

672

So it was like

673

she could only teach for so long,

and then she'd need to do something

674

almost like a commercial break,

because the kids were so used

675

to focus for a few minutes

and then they needed a break.

676

Yeah, it was weird. And it is.

677

And that was when you had a 30 minute show

where it had a few commercial breaks.

678

Now we're talking short form videos.

679

That can be a minute long.

680

I mean, you know,

and then there's a break. Yeah, yeah.

681

So it's definitely a thing.

682

And you know, when TikTok started doing

that, I noticed YouTube shorts.

683

And they've added

that a couple of years ago.

684

And it's for the same reason

685

people like them,

but it definitely affects these things.

686

Now, one thing I do think it's important

to point out here is social

687

media gets a lot of complaints and worries

and these type of things,

688

and there are reasons for that.

689

But it's not a bad thing

in the technology.

690

And there are some benefits that go

along with this connection with friends.

691

Creative expression, educational content

692

support, communities, identity

exploration, mental health resources.

693

A couple

of little numbers that come out of here.

694

This is from Pew Research Centers

that 74% of teens

695

say social media helps them

feel connected to friends.

696

63% say it gives them a creative outlet.

697

And I know from my own standpoint,

going online, I can find things that

698

I wouldn't find in other places,

and a lot of us are still isolated.

699

There's rural communities,

all these kind of things.

700

And for isolated kids, LGBTQ teens,

rural kids or niche interested

701

groups, social media can provide community

they may not have locally.

702

And again, that is very, very true.

703

So you're looking at a standpoint

704

here that used properly,

this kind of technology has its place.

705

And it's not a bad thing.

706

In fact, it can offer some things that

you wouldn't be able to get otherwise.

707

One of the other things that I know

that social media is used for,

708

and this is from some of the comments

we've gotten, is the idea

709

that they'll hear about something

the teens will that they're interested in.

710

They don't have resources

that their school or library

711

that would be locally accessible.

712

And they use social media

to not only be able

713

to find information

on whatever the topic is,

714

but talk to experts

and different things like that.

715

So there are definitely reasons

for this to be here.

716

But of course, there are also concerns.

717

And like Meta's addressing on this,

718

this comes from some things

that can be downright scary.

719

And this is where it's very important

to know what your children are doing

720

online and the tools that are being given

to help with this.

721

It still doesn't take the place of parents

observing and knowing what is going on.

722

So mental health,

which is kind of the big one.

723

48% of teens say social media

has a mostly negative effect on people

724

their age, and 45% say that they spend

too much time on social media.

725

So this is coming

right from the kids that are using it.

726

Yeah, I can see that.

727

It sounds like it feels like

it's almost like a gambling addiction.

728

Yeah.

729

You know, yeah, it kind of is, you know,

and there's a lot

730

that said

that the algorithms that are used for

731

this are designed to keep you engage,

keep you scrolling, that kind of a thing.

732

So it definitely has that feeling area

is commonly linked to heavy use.

733

Again this comes from Pew Institute

for putting these topics together.

734

Anxiety, depression,

sleep disruption, body image

735

issues,

social comparison, reduced attention span.

736

Like what

you were just talking about Gretchen.

737

And right.

738

You know, it's a situation where

739

the kids know that this is going on,

740

but there is a general feeling among them

that it affects others, not themselves.

741

It's a fascinating disconnect

742

where many teams recognize

the system may be unhealthy overall, but

743

they still feel personally immune to it,

so it's going to affect the other guy.

744

That kind of a feeling

745

isn't isn't that just,

you know, teenage immortality thing?

746

Well, I'm sure that's part of it.

That's probably what drives it.

747

You know, I didn't figure out the mortal

748

and I'm still immortal, but,

you know, hey, that's me.

749

Well, I mean, teenagers,

they just kind of feel

750

like they're indestructible

sometimes. Yeah.

751

And at that age, you are.

752

You don't hurt.

753

You don't have all these weird health

things going on, you know, and you don't

754

necessarily have a lot of responsibility.

755

You got to deal with going to school. And,

756

you know, so it kind of makes sense

that you would have this.

757

And like you say,

Bill, it's just part of part of the age.

758

And it would definitely play into this.

759

Now another one is sleep deprivation.

760

We've talked about this.

761

In fact, we had a psychologist

762

on a couple of years ago

that went into this in a lot more detail.

763

But again, coming from the teens

764

using social media,

which is 95% of the teenagers out there.

765

So it's pretty much everybody,

766

45% of that group

say that social media hurts their sleep.

767

Notifications and endless scrolling

keep brain stimulated late at night.

768

Luna light plus emotional stimulation

equal or sleep quality.

769

Even though they're finding out

770

that blue light doesn't have the effect

that was once thought of.

771

If you wake up in the middle of the night

and turn on your phone or your tablet

772

and have this giant light of whatever

wavelengths are available.

773

Come on and start going through stuff

that, oh, you know,

774

who's thinking about who or who's

775

talking about this or something

that's going to affect your sleep.

776

It just is.

777

I think a lot of this is that missing out

anxiety, like,

778

oh, if I don't see it, everybody's

going to think that I'm dumb or whatever.

779

And I didn't know about it.

780

It's that fear.

781

It's weird, and it seems like

782

it's a lot more intense

now than it was when I was in school.

783

We were just worried about our clothes.

784

So when people looking at us funny.

785

But yeah, you didn't have the technology

to even be able to do this.

786

So it wasn't a thing

you worried about image at school then?

787

You usually went to the mall back when we

still had malls and saw everybody yet.

788

Well, but there's also this social media

789

follows you 24 seven

790

when you were at school,

when I was a kid, you went to school.

791

That's when these things happened.

792

And then maybe you might call your friends

after school at home.

793

But then there was bedtime

and that was it.

794

Yeah. It ended.

795

You had peace and quiet,

and it follows you everywhere.

796

And it doesn't.

797

You can't even go to the bathroom

without it bugging you.

798

Yeah, and that's very true, you know.

799

And again, it's the use of technology.

800

I mean, you know,

I mean, I'm aging myself a little bit

801

by saying this here,

but when I was in school,

802

I certainly didn't have a phone,

much less a smartphone, I didn't exist.

803

I certainly didn't have a laptop computer

that I could carry with me.

804

And even if I did, you wouldn't have been

able to connect anything with it.

805

Did you know Wi-Fi was not available

in the school yet at that time?

806

And, you know, expert advice on

this is that many experts

807

are now recommending keeping phones

completely out of bedrooms overnight.

808

But that in of itself can cause anxiety.

809

So it's, you know, figuring out

how to how to balance these things.

810

And I know it's

not even the teenagers as an adult.

811

Oh, yeah, I know where the off button is

on my phone and I turn it off at night.

812

And there have been times

I've talked about this before

813

where I've had people

actually get angry with me.

814

It's like we were working on this

at 3:00 in the morning.

815

Where were you? I was home sleeping.

816

That's

what I wasn't supposed to be doing, right?

817

You know? What are you talking about?

818

I lost a client once. Because of that.

819

They couldn't understand

why I wasn't available.

820

Well, you know what?

821

I am happy to help,

and I'm happy to be here.

822

But it is not expected

that I'm here 24 hours a day.

823

And if it is, you pre-arranged it

and you pay me more.

824

You know

825

the salesman that yelled at me

for not answering my phone while driving?

826

Yeah, yeah.

827

So this is this has been going on.

828

It's not just affecting the kids.

829

It's affecting the grown ups too.

830

And it's it's, you know, it's a point

because parents need to understand

831

that there are outside influences

pushing their kids to keep the phone

832

on all the time.

833

It's not just them wanting to do it

necessarily.

834

And that kind of a thing

does create some problems.

835

One of the other big ones,

and we've talked about this,

836

I know a number of times on

the show is cyber bullying.

837

This has not become something in the past.

838

It's still something

that is very much out there.

839

Nearly half of us teens reported

experiencing some form of online

840

harassment or bullying, so 95% of

the of our teenagers use the system,

841

and almost half of them have experienced

cyber bullying in one way or another.

842

I think I have, and I'm a grown up.

843

And again, it makes it

844

so different

because, you know, I dealt with bullies

845

until halfway through middle school,

and then I finally stood up for myself.

846

And you didn't have a problem

with that much anymore.

847

But I know what this is like.

848

But at least when I left school,

849

I have to deal with it until the next day

and online.

850

It follows your kids home

and it can be anonymous.

851

That's another thing that's kind of scary.

852

Spreads rapidly.

853

Screenshots make it permanent,

so it's not like something

854

that's said to you in the hallways.

855

There can actually be documentation

and recordings and stuff made.

856

And you know, group chats are often

where the worst behavior happens.

857

And again,

all of this is being being recorded.

858

Oh yeah. Oh, man.

859

I you know,

the photograph stuff can be pretty awful.

860

There was a.

861

Oh I can't remember

the name of the cartoon, but it, it

862

hit upon that

and we're the cartoon character.

863

Something strange happened to her

and it got caught on social media.

864

And then it went viral.

865

And the cartoon character,

she was crushed.

866

Yeah.

867

And she used to be very much

into social media.

868

And now she was the butt

of everybody's jokes.

869

And she was she was crushed.

870

And these these things happen, you know,

and and this is coming from the experts

871

and one other note on this kind of in line

with what you're saying,

872

Gretchen, is private messages

can be more harmful than public posts.

873

And the reason for that is,

is a public post or group chat.

874

There are other people around

and it may mute it a little bit,

875

but at least there's somebody there

876

that might report what's going on, or

at least know, you know when they see it.

877

Private messages.

878

Your children

879

may never tell you about this stuff,

and you would have no way of knowing,

880

sort of trying to go through and dig

through stuff of what's actually going on.

881

And that can be really bad,

because you don't even know that there's a

882

problem happening, much less at in a mode

where you want to try to solve it.

883

And, you know, to that end.

884

Predators and is another thing here

885

that is one of the fastest

growing online safety concerns.

886

This comes from investigative

article written by Ezra Kaplan.

887

It's something

888

to check out on the survey, and she goes

into a lot of details on this.

889

But 1 in 5 teens and young adults

890

reported experiencing sextortion attempts.

891

That's kind of scary.

892

It's not kind of about it,

you know? Yeah.

893

Predators often pose as other teens.

894

AI generated images and fake identities

are making scams more convincing.

895

And this is a big deal across the board

with AI becoming what it is now.

896

Not only things like scams and stuff

that we've talked about in the past,

897

but they can generate entire fake profiles

that appear to be real.

898

And one of the things that was talking

about earlier in the segment

899

are tools that they're putting together

to help identify and block these things,

900

but it isn't 100%,

and it's something that, you know,

901

you want to look at, and your children

might not have the experience

902

to know that somebody's going,

hey, how are you today?

903

What's going on is

904

their goal is to move from one thing

to something very dangerous.

905

They know how to do it.

906

Your kids

don't have the experience to see it

907

and that can cause

just enormous, enormous harm.

908

You know, I would think,

909

you know, you hear about things

like blackmail and extortion that,

910

you know, where the children are afraid

that somebody's

911

going to hurt their,

their, their friends or their family.

912

So are there any is there like, any advice

913

that we can give parents or the kids

914

who do you contact

if somebody threatens you with this?

915

Is there is there a governing body

or a policing type force?

916

You know, it's an interesting thing.

917

And Bill, weigh in on this

because I know you have a child

918

that you've been working with this

on a little bit, too,

919

and you're probably got more information

directly on it.

920

But this can be worldwide.

921

And a police force, I don't know,

does something like that even exist?

922

Yeah.

923

If you're especially this sort of stuff.

924

I mean, because we're talking about child

predators,

925

you can report it to the police

926

and it is taken seriously because it is,

927

you know, sexual predation on children.

928

And that is now.

929

And I think it's important

to point out to the police

930

and law enforcement do have resources

to be able to investigate and,

931

you know, see where these things

come from, at least to an extent.

932

If someone really knows

what they're doing, they can hide.

933

But it's becoming harder and harder

to do that these days,

934

which is a good thing, you know?

935

So, Gretchen, in answer to a question

936

you put out there,

first thing is to teach your kids

937

so that they have some knowledge

of what to look for, never show

938

the location, share the location

publicly of where they are.

939

A couple of years ago,

we did a piece on this where

940

using metadata on photos

the child had taken on her cell phone.

941

Within a day, they were able to figure out

where she lived, where

942

she went to school, where her bedroom

was in the house, things like that.

943

And you want to turn location off.

944

Don't accept unknown friend requests

and that's good for everybody.

945

That's just a bad thing.

Be cautious with photos.

946

They last forever.

947

Assume screenshots last forever.

948

Think you're writing

something on social media?

949

If that's going to be somebody

in authority

950

using that against you,

like in a courtroom or whatever.

951

Do you really want that to be out there?

952

Because once it's out

there, it's out there.

953

And the other things

like what meadow was talking

954

about earlier in the segment,

use the built in tools,

955

and they're working on

getting these better.

956

But even right now, teen accounts,

content filters, screen time

957

controls, restricted messaging,

parent supervision tools

958

these will vary from platform to platform,

and some are better than others.

959

But certainly it's something

where you can go in deal with the account.

960

You would have to be in control

in your child.

961

Set up another account

you don't know about.

962

Yes, it's not 100% you got to.

963

Parents have to be engaged,

964

and there's no way to just write this off

to somewhere else.

965

And if you're a parent

that's worried about this,

966

you're not going to be the parent

that would do that.

967

But there are those out there

that it's like, well,

968

I don't know anything about it.

Someone else's problem.

969

No, you don't have to be an expert

in computers

970

to be able to watch

what your children are doing online

971

and look over their shoulders,

even if they don't like it.

972

Oh, that's too bad, you know?

973

So these are just some of the tips

that are out there.

974

Send us your questions

and we will send them up the stream

975

and see if we can get access for you.

976

And until next week,

977

this is User friendly 2.0,

keeping you safe on the cutting edge, user

978

friendly 2.0.

979

Copyright 2013 to 2026

980

by User Friendly Media Group incorporated.

981

All rights reserved.

982

The content is the opinion

of the show's participants and does

983

not necessarily reflect this station

or platform.

984

Requests for material use, interviews,

disclosures,

985

and other correspondence may be viewed

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